The Alchemist and the Assassin
by Keemon
Summary: When Mustang captures a mysterious Xingese man who's been assassinating top military officials, he gets a lot more than he asked for. It isn't long before everyone else gets involved. DtbFMA crossover, but FMA: Brotherhood is all you need to have watched.
1. The Assassin

A/N: This is a Darker than Black and Fullmetal Alchemist crossover, but you do NOT have to have watched Darker than Black to understand it. Everything is written in terms of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga/Brotherhood.

This fanfiction starts right before when Barry the Chopper attacked Lieutenant Hawkeye in the manga, which I believe is around Chapter 31 of the manga and around episode 16 of Brotherhood. However, there are spoilers beyond that point in Brotherhood/the manga, so beware if you've just started the series.

I do not own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist

Read and review! :)

* * *

Central City had always had its fair share of trouble. Terrorist attacks and assassinations were among the many crimes that were far too often committed in the capital of Amestris. So when the wail of the Military Police siren echoed out of a police car speeding down the road, Central City's citizens just made sure to get out of the way and didn't think about the incident any further. After all in a city so big, what was the likelihood that someone they cared about was in trouble?

However, a man in his early twenties who appeared to be a Xingese foreigner, and who had been shopping at a nearby store for groceries did not seem to share this view. He glanced after the car as it raced down the street with the peculiar blank expression, thinly veiling some kind of emotion. When the man saw it turn at the next corner his impassive mask slipped a bit more to reveal a hint of anxiety on his face. He thanked the store vendor and walked briskly with his purchases towards the corner where the car had turned. As soon as he rounded the corner, he put down the food and started running, making people shout in annoyance as he roughly pushed past them. He turned another corner, and his eyes widened as he saw the MPs already getting out of the car and swarming the building that had been his destination. His gaze swept calculatingly over the gathering of police, and, seeming to reach a decision, walked up to the nearest police officer, a grumpy-looking, overweight old man who seemed to be giving orders to the gaggle of police.

"Um… Hello. Can you tell me what's going on here?" the man asked somewhat sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. His manner had changed as soon as he had approached the officer—he now had a goofy grin on his face, and all seriousness was completely gone from his expression.

"…Do you live here?" the policeman asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I just moved into one of the apartments a week or so ago. I thought I was choosing the safe part of town, but I guess not," he laughed, gesturing at the police who were still gathered outside, and appeared to be radioing in for back-up. They still hadn't attempted to invade the building.

"You're not from here are you?" the policeman replied, ignoring the man's previous comments, and still clearly cautious. "Do you have your documentation with you?"

The man looked a little taken aback, but smiled nonetheless. "Of course." He dug a couple of papers out of his coat pocket and handed it to the police officer.

The police officer examined the papers carefully and grunted in dissatisfaction when he found nothing wrong. He kept holding the immigration papers anyway. "Looks good," he growled. "But for all I know you might just have a really good forgery."

"Uh…" the Xingese man replied, nonplussed.

"Huang, are you bothering another innocent bystander again?" Another policeman had noticed the pair's exchange and was now standing behind Huang. The newcomer shot Huang a look of exasperation.

"In work like this, suspicion is the only thing that has kept me alive over all these years," growled Huang. "You better remember that if you want to live, Isozaki. You're still just a rookie at this. This guy just moved in about the time the murders started, and he's a foreigner. He could have easily faked his immigration papers."

"Why are you suspicious of foreigners? Aren't you from Xing yourself?"

"Exactly. So I know for a fact that the best assassins in the world come from Xing. There are plenty of experts because of all the assassination attempts on the fifty royal families."

The Xingese man looked at him in shock. "Wait—you think that I'm an assassin?!"

Huang didn't even look at him as he continued. "And all the best killers are monsters that look and act like normal humans."

The other policeman covered his face in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry about this," he apologized to the Xingese immigrant, who was still staring at Huang in disbelief. It was perfectly understandable that Isozaki didn't seem to find the man suspicious—he appeared to be quite normal, if not very rich. He was wearing faded jeans, a clean, but clearly old, long white shirt, and a slightly ragged green jacket. "There have been a string of murders of important people around town lately, so I guess everyone's really on edge."

"It's okay, I guess…" the Xingese man replied uneasily. "But can you at least search my apartment before you take me in for questioning? I've got a night job in a couple hours, and as you can see," he said, gesturing to his worn-out clothes, "I really need the job."

Huang glared at him, but consented. "Alright. Li Shengshun… is it?" he asked with a glance at the immigration papers as if he doubted the name's authenticity. "We'll keep you in custody until the building search is over. If we find even one thing suspicious," he added with a scowl at Li, "we're taking you in. Got it?"

Li nodded, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "Sounds fair. But why aren't you guys going in already? I would still like to get to my job, if at all possible."

"Well, we told you that this assassin killed several important people in Central City right?" said the younger police officer. "We're waiting for back-up from a state alchemist. We're just here to stop them if they run for it."

"This guy must be really dangerous…" Li mused. "I heard state alchemists are the best at taking down criminals like this. But…" Li tilted his head curiously. "Why did you say 'them'? I thought you were just after one assassin?"

"Never you mind," interrupted Huang gruffly. "If you're not him, it doesn't concern you."

"Huang, it can't hurt to tell him," Isozaki interjected with a hint of aspiration in his voice. He turned back to Li and whispered, "We've been hearing reports that he has this silver-haired girl that spies for him. We need to catch her too, because according to our sources," he lowered his voice and leaned towards Hei. "He'll do whatever we want if that girl is in trouble. Did you ever see any silver-haired girls around the apartment building?"

Li nodded thoughtfully with the pleasant expression still on his face, but his eyes seemed to harden at the statement. "Oh… so you're capturing the girl traveling with the assassin… so you can torture her to get the killer to talk."

The younger policeman looked a bit surprised at Li's choice of words. "I guess that's one way to put—" his voice was abruptly cut off as he gasped in pain. He looked down to see a knife handle sticking out of his stomach. He looked up farther to see that Li had pulled out a knife out from under his jacket and stabbed him. Isozaki collapsed on the ground, blood dribbling out of his mouth, eye's wide.

"And you call _me_ a monster?" asked Li with contempt thick in his voice. His eyes were enraged, and his face had changed back to the cold mask he had worn before approaching the police. He had found out what he had wanted to know, and all pretenses of being normal were immediately dropped.

"Isozaki!" yelled Huang, not even seeing Li as he ran over to the young police officer.

Li could see the heads of all the police officers turn as they heard the shout. "Tch!"

Some of the officers raised their guns, but one of them threw out his hand to hold them back and shouted, "Don't shoot! You'll hit Huang and Isozaki!" As the policemen hesitated, Li in one fluid motion threw a wire snap-hook that was attached onto a belt hidden under his long shirt. The hook wrapped around a balcony on the fourth floor, and he immediately retracted the wire, which launched him up to the balcony underneath it on the third floor. The policemen watched him, open-mouthed.

"Don't just stand there, open fire!" shouted one.

"We can't!" yelled another. "We haven't evacuated the building yet!"

"Surround the building!" Huang ordered from his place at Isozaki's side in a firm voice. "Cover all exits, and make sure you watch the windows. Don't let him get away!"

The police officers all ran off in different directions as they raced to cover the exits. All except two. Huang remained behind next to Isozaki, and a female officer walked up to him fearfully.

"How's… Isozaki?" She asked, staring at the blood that was pooling beneath him. As she noted that Huang wasn't bothering to try to stop the bleeding, she started to shake convulsively.

Huang looked up at her with a very tired expression on his face. "I'm sorry. You're husband's dead."

As Li ran further into the building towards his apartment, he heard a loud wailing sound issuing from the ground below. He didn't react at all, but just kept on running.

Suddenly, Li skidded to a halt at a door, and swung it open. "Yin!" he yelled. "Are you alright?!"

A silver-haired, slender girl looked up from where she was slumped on the couch but did not look him directly in the eye. Despite this, the complete lack of emotion on her face was obvious. Although Li's face was fairly impassive most of the time, it sometimes seemed to be concealing some emotion hidden underneath, which occasionally rose to the surface. The silver-haired girl's face was best described as completely devoid of life; an emotionless expression set in stone.

"Li." She acknowledged in a monotone voice. She did not comment on his abrupt entry or move at all from her position on the couch. She merely stared at some point beyond Li's ear.

"You won't need to use that fake name anymore, Yin. We're leaving now." He grabbed her hand, and pulled her after him into the hallway. He started running as fast as he could without making Yin fall over behind him. Yin's head turned towards the general direction of the man's hand, which was holding her's tightly.

Yin nodded. "Hei," she amended as she tried to keep up with the man dragging her down the corridor. "Where." It was a statement, not a question.

"Don't know. They're sending in the state alchemists, so we just need to get far away first."

"Hei," Yin stated. She seemed to be trying to get his attention.

Hei didn't respond, but turned at the next corner, which had a long corridor at the end of which was a large window.

"Hei. What's wrong."

Hei's running faltered for a second, and he looked back her, a look of mild surprise on his face. Yin just kept staring at their interlocked hands.

Hei turned his head back around, and sprinted even faster towards the window at the end of the hall, dragging a stumbling Yin after him. "Nothing."

"You're lying."

They had reached the end of the hall, and this time Hei ignored her. He crouched down. "Get on my back. Make sure you cover your face; I'm going to have to break through the window."

Yin nodded and put her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. Hei stood up, smashed the window with a running kick, and fell out the window. He reached for the wire snap-hook on his belt, threw it so it attached to the nearest balcony as he fell. He managed to slow his momentum some, but then the railing his hook had attached to snapped, and he slammed into the ground with considerable force.

"Ugh…" Hei groaned. He remained squatting on the ground for a moment as he wrestled with the pain coursing up and down his legs. The railing clattered to the ground behind him, and glass shards rained down on him and Yin. Because of the broken railing, he hadn't gotten enough momentum to clear the glass… He slowly got up and assessed the situation. He had sustained several cuts, but nothing too major. "Yin, are you ok?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Yes," Yin replied emotionlessly. She was also covered in shallow scratches, but there was a particularly nasty piece of glass embedded her arm that was bleeding badly. Hei looked closer at the cut, pulling her arm towards him. Yin didn't flinch at the pain; her face was still stoically set in stone.

"It'll be okay if we can bandage it soon," Hei determined with a quiet sigh. It could've been much worse. "I'll get out the glass once we get to a safe place. Let's get out of here."

"And where do you think you're going?" A smug voice asked.

Hei whipped around to see a uniformed man, a colonel, as Hei could tell from his uniform, standing behind him. Hei's eyes flicked to the man's pocket. Sure enough, there was a silver pocketwatch in it, signifying his position as a state alchemist. Hei stepped back warily, and was about to put Yin down to draw his knife when he saw she didn't have any shoes. Her feet would be torn apart with all the glass around. He inwardly cursed.

"Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, at your service," smirked the man. He held up a gloved hand with the alchemy circle for fire inscribed in the fabric. "If you want to live, I suggest you surrender without a fight."

Running was not an option then. The Flame Alchemist would be able to burn both of them badly before they found a place with substantial cover.

"Hei," Yin deadpanned in Hei's ear. "Go. I'll be ok."

Hei ignored her and kept his eyes on the new enemy. Yin fell silent.

"You expect us to surrender to you so we can go be experimented on again?"

"'Experimented on'?" Colonel Mustang quoted in surprise.

Hei blinked once, but continued looking at him coolly. "You don't know about the project?"

"Why would I?"

"All the high ranking officers knew about it."

The colonel contemplated the pair silently. This was an odd criminal for sure. He wasn't abandoning his companion even if it left him completely helpless. And the girl he was with seemed utterly powerless as she clung weakly to the man's neck; the military might have forced a trumped up charge on her to justify her capture. It had been done before.

But, most importantly, this man seemed to genuinely have some knowledge about some forbidden experiments the higher-ups were conducting, and he had seemed truly surprised when Mustang didn't know about this 'project'. _Research, huh…_ Human experimentation was close to the field that the Elric brothers were looking into, in order to get their bodies back. Perhaps… this had something to do with them. And since Major Armstrong had insinuated that what the Elric brothers were searching for, the philosopher's stone, was somehow related to Hughes death… this was definitely worth looking into. Mustang eyed the silver-haired girl. She had to be the one the police report had said would make a good hostage.

As the Colonel stared at Hei and in Yin, in the silence, Hei could hear the drip of the blood from Yin's wound onto the glass surrounding them. He resisted the urge to shift uneasily. If he didn't get the glass out of her and stop the bleeding soon…

"I'll make a deal with you," Mustang abruptly stated. "Equivalent Trade. You tell me all you know about your assassination targets, any corruption in the higher ups, and this project you spoke about, and I'll provide a hiding place for you. However, we'll have a guard on that girl at all times to make sure you don't try to pull one over on us."

Hei bristled at the last sentence, but after sparing a glance at Yin, sharply nodded his head in acquiescence.

"Excellent," said Colonel Mustang with a self-satisfied smirk.

Hei stared frostily right back at Colonel Mustang's smug expression, and thought to himself, _If Mustang betrays us, then I'm sure I can find someone who would pay well to have him eliminated_.


	2. Escape

A/N: I do not own Darker than Black, Fullmetal Alchemist, or any of their characters.

* * *

"Over here, sir! I'm sure I heard some glass break!"

"Go help the Colonel!"

"Throw your weapons on the ground," hissed Mustang hurriedly as the military police from around other parts of the building came running up to their location. "And leave the girl here. Hide, and I'll come back to get you later." He paused for a moment and stared Hei down. "If you run off, I can't guarantee the girl's safety."

Hei glared at him, and threw two knives to the ground that had been hidden on the belt under his shirt. Mustang's eyes narrowed.

"The wire you used to jump down here too. And I believe you have at least one more knife. Neither of these is bloody."

Hei didn't say anything as he tossed the last of his weapons away. Mustang didn't know what to think. Despite the fact that his survival was on the line, it was strange that the killer was getting rid of his weapons without any protest whatsoever. Was the man just so confident in his abilities that he felt he didn't need the weapons?

Hei's eyes darted past Mustang to where the voices of the police were nearing. He quickly approached Mustang, and carefully set Yin down in a patch of glass-less earth. She stared straight ahead, unmoving.

Hei looked around quickly for a place to hide as Mustang started fumbling to get his water canteen off his belt. Hei's eyes landed on a dumpster farther down the alley and he sprinted for it.

"Hair dye… hair dye…" Mustang muttered distractedly as he finally extricated the canteen from the belt. "Let's see, I'll need water, PPD, hydrogen peroxide..." Mustang looked around at the ground and grabbed a broken, empty beer bottle and quickly poured some water into it. "I can use some of the water for the peroxide… and I'll need carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen for the PPD." He quickly pulled one of his pantlegs out of his boots, tore off a bit of fabric from his socks, and tossed it into the beer bottle. "Carbon from the cellulose… I'll use nitrogen from the air, and they'll be hydrogen left over from creating the peroxide from the water."

He bent over and started drawing the transmutation circle in the dirt around the bottle as fast as he could. "Hope that's right. I'm no beautician."

"Over here! I see someone!" He could see the MPs running towards him from the opposite end of the alley as the dumpster.

With a shower of sparks, the transmutation was completed. The Colonel fumbled for his notebook and pen in his pocket and scribbled another quick circle on it. Placing the piece of paper on the silver-haired girls head, and dipping the ends of the girl's hair into the bottle of dye, he activated the circle. The dye began moving up into the girl's hair, but the policemen were much too close at this point. He threw the bottle aside and stepped in front of the girl to hide the light of the reaction as he faced the incoming police officers, praying that the hasty reaction had worked.

"Colonel Mustang, sir!" panted one of the MPs. "Are you alright? Did the criminal come through the windows like Huang said he would?"

"No, he didn't," Mustang sighed grimly. "He threw his weapons out though. See?" he pointed at the cluster of weapons on the ground among the shattered glass. "He must have been trying to draw you away from where he was really coming out."

Most of the police officers looked embarrassed at the implied mistake on their part. One, however, seemed suspicious.

"But why, of all the things to get rid of, would he throw out his weapons? That doesn't make any sense. And why," he added glancing back at the wreckage of glass, metal, and weapons along the side of the building. "Did half a balcony fall from just a couple of weapons being thrown out the window?" The suspicious cop gingerly made his way over to the fallen balcony. "Part of that wire he was using before is still attached to this railing here."

"Are you implying that I'm lying?" Mustang asked him coldly. The cop cringed back a little at Mustang's tone. "I don't know how that happened. He might've hooked up the wire somehow to make the balcony fall down, to make more noise and create more of a distraction. He certainly seemed proficient enough with the wire to do something of that magnitude without me seeing him."

"Who's that behind you?" one of the cops asked suddenly.

"One of the girls in the apartment came out wondering what the noise was about," lied Mustang smoothly. _Please let the dye have worked_, he thought fervently to himself as he stepped away from the girl. "I was just talking to her before you came up. She's a little shy."

There was a couple beats of silence. Mustang didn't dare look back at the girl. And then one of the cops broke the silence with a snigger.

"I can see why she doesn't talk," he laughed, pointing at Yin. "Look at that hair!" He yelped as one of his fellow MPs elbowed him in the ribs, but Mustang was grateful for the chance to check on his handiwork without seeming suspicious. He had to steel himself for a moment when he saw what he had done. _How in the world am I going to explain this?_

"But it's silver and black!" complained the cop who had just been elbowed. "It's so weird! I've never seen anyone with hair like that!"

The suspicious cop carefully watched Mustang, who was still facing Yin, for his reaction. He was surprised to see the Colonel's shoulders start shaking in anger.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," said Mustang in cold fury, turning around to give the cop a death stare. "This is Elena Falman. I learned from our short conversation that she is a relative of one of my subordinates, Warrant Officer Vato Falman. If you've ever seen him, you know that this hair runs in the family. He has often talked about how a shy little niece of his was having trouble with bullying in school because she, like him, has silver and black hair." He shook his head. "As a Military Police officer, you should be exemplifying the ideal citizen, not some playground bully."

Mustang was again met with silence. _Hope I didn't overdo the drama a bit._

"I'm…sorry," whispered the abashed MP in a hushed voice. "I didn't know—"

"Don't tell me, tell her," ordered Mustang harshly.

"I'm sorry, Miss Elena," mumbled the cop.

Yin nodded slowly. Her expression was still vacant and expressionless. She looked a bit pale, Mustang noticed worriedly. Hopefully her wound wasn't that serious; he never intended to bring any harm to the girl. He would have to make sure none of the MPs got close enough to see she was injured. That would blow her entire cover.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Colonel Mustang," the suspicious cop spoke up firmly. "But that girl almost perfectly matches our description of the silver-haired girl following the assassin around. It wouldn't be that hard for her to lie about her identity, and that black in her hair could be dye."

"I'd recognize a Falman anywhere," bluffed Mustang. "But if you would rather waste your time confirming what I already know, I brought Second Lieutenant Breda and Warrant Officer Falman along with me today. He should still be in my car, along the street just off this alley. You can bring him over for a confirmation, if you want."

The suspicious cop motioned to one of the MPs in the group, who ran down to the road, and brought back a confused-looking Warrant Officer Falman.

Falman stopped in front of Mustang and saluted. "Colonel, sir."

"At ease, Warrant Officer. I brought you here to tell these men that this girl is indeed your beloved, yet reclusive, niece Elena," said Mustang affably. "I was just telling them how she has the hair that runs in your family."

If Falman had seemed confused before, now he looked absolutely bewildered. With all eyes on Falman, Mustang chanced giving him a quick glare. With that, the Warrant Officer seemed to understand what was going on.

"Oh. Uh… y-yes. Yes she is. I'm sorry, I almost didn't recognize her in the sunlight," said Falman, wildly making up a story. "Since she… uh…"

"Since she's so shy she usually doesn't venture outside," finished Mustang understandingly, giving Yin a sympathetic look. "Now that you mention it, she is quite pale." Mustang glanced back at Falman with a critical look on his face. "Maybe shyness runs in the family too, Warrant Officer. We really should do something about that stutter of yours."

Falman gulped as he recognized the edge to his commanding officer's voice. "Y-y-you're r-right, sir."

Mustang looked politely at the suspicious cop, who was staring at him in angry disbelief. "Any other questions?" _He knows, _thought Mustang warily. _But he can't go against a higher-ranking officer without more solid proof. I'll have to be careful later. There's still quite a bit of evidence here going against me. _

"Where's Lieutenant Hawkeye? Isn't she always with you?"

Mustang raised his eyebrows at the man. "I don't see how that's relevant to the case. But for your information she has the day off. I brought Falman and Breda because they both have an extraordinary amount of talent when it comes to outthinking the enemy. But since you seem to have run out of questions pertinent to finding the criminal, I suggest you return to your post."

The suspicious cop was shaking in suppressed anger as he ground out a "Yes sir," and stomped off. The rest of the police followed after him, looking slightly confused as to what had just happened.

Falman waited until the group was a reasonable distance away before rounding on the Colonel. "Sir, what was that all about?! I've never seen this girl in my life! And my hair doesn't look nearly as bad as hers!"

Mustang managed to crack a smile at Falman's last comment, but it disappeared as soon as he glanced at the girl with silver and black hair standing beside him. "I'm sorry I had to bring you into that. But for your own safety you should forget everything you just heard and stay out of this from now on."

Falman gazed at him for a moment and shook his head with a slight grin. "Sorry Colonel, my memory's too good to forget all of that. I'm afraid I'll just have to help you out."

There was a short pause.

"Falman… thanks. I mean it," said Mustang sincerely. He took a breath and blew it out slowly. "Alright then… I'll explain everything to you later. For now, bring this girl to the car. Try to avoid as much attention as possible, but if anyone asks, say that you're bringing your precious cousin out of the danger zone." Falman's eye twitched. "Keep her in there, and keep her hidden until I'm able to get away. Once we're all together, we'll drive to a safer place."

He tapped his finger to his chin. "Also…get Breda to find Lieutenant Hawkeye. She should be out shopping downtown for supplies since she just started moving into her apartment. He'll need to tell her… to get rid of some of those shopping bags into the dumpster in this alley later tonight. And to be prepared to bring a surprise back to the hideout." 

* * *

Hours later, well into the night, Mustang had managed to gather everyone into a dilapidated shack on the city's outskirts. The dim light of a lantern was flickering against the walls, eerily illuminating the faces of everyone in the room. Lieutenant Hawkeye was holding Hei at rifle-point, and Warrant Officer Falman was tending to an unconscious Yin, who had earlier been restored to her normal silver-haired self by Mustang, on a makeshift bed made out of a nearby crate and a pile of uniforms. Yin had lost quite a bit of blood by the time Colonel Mustang had managed to leave the crime scene, and though Falman had tried to bandage her up best he could while waiting for the Colonel to return, she had long since passed out.

Yin, however, was not the Colonel's priority right now.

"Now, tell me what Xing is trying to do by assassinating all these military officials."

"I'm not from Xing."

"What?" Mustang asked, a little incredulous. The police report had definitely stated that the man had a valid passport.

"All of my ancestors were Xingese, but I was born and raised Amestrian."

"You make a pretty convincing immigrant then." Mustang said doubtfully. He made a mental note to himself to look into working on passport fraud when he had the time.

Hei appeared unruffled. "People can't look past appearances when it comes to finding common traits. I've always lived in Amestris and know very little about Xing, but no one noticed because I look Xingese, and I said I was a Xingese immigrant. The only time I ever had to show that forged passport was to that suspicious cop in front of the apartment."

Mustang didn't seem to have a response to this at first. After a minute or so, he opened his mouth to ask another question, only to see that Hei had shifted his glance to the unconscious girl.

"How's she doing?"

Falman looked up from where he was bandaging up some minor cuts he hadn't been able to treat in the car. "She's suffering from quite a bit of blood loss, and there is always the possibility of infections. But I'm pretty sure I got all the glass out, so all we can do is wait to see if she recovers."

Hei nodded. He closed his eyes for a moment and stared at the ground with a pained expression. Mustang took note of this and changed what he had been about to ask.

"You're quite close to that girl, right? But why are you traveling with someone who could only hinder you? You seem like the type to go for the kill alone."

Hei answered him with a murderous stare, silently daring him to ask another question on the subject of Yin.

Mustang took the hint and fell quiet.

After a short pause, Hei looked up at him coldly. "Are those the only questions you were going to ask me?"

Mustang frowned at him. "Of course not. Don't think you were getting off that easy." He tapped a finger to his chin, trying to decide which question to ask first. "First off, if Xing didn't hire you, then who did?"

"An enemy of the government."

"Is that all you're going to say about it?"

"That's all I know. I have a reputation for disobeying assassination orders if I feel the need to. So I never know much about my employers because someone like me could easily switch sides."

Colonel Mustang gave him a strange look. "But why would anyone hire an assassin like that?"

Hei looked up into his eyes and Mustang shrank back a little. In that moment, he had looked…like a worn-out animal that had been hunted its entire life. Just like some of the Ishbalans in the civil war—no…the genocide.

"…Because I'm the best at killing," Hei replied simply. But Mustang thought there might have been a hint of sadness in his voice.

"And how did you get so good at killing?" Mustang asked firmly, forcing himself not to identify with the assassin. Just a couple of years ago, he had been no better than Hei when it came to murder, but that didn't matter now. Mustang couldn't let anything like pity stop him from achieving his own goal to become Fuhrer. He had to change the country so no one would have to go through what he had again. "Who taught you that electrical alchemy you use in your assassinations? What was the project you were talking about?"

The dead look in Hei's eyes intensified. "It's a long story—"

"Well, you're not going anywhere."

"—And I'd rather tell it when Yin is awake," Hei finished with a glance at Yin's limp form. "She can fill in some of the parts that I don't know about."

Mustang glared at him suspiciously, but reluctantly agreed. "Alright. It's late anyway. But we're going to get some answers from your tomorrow whether that girl is awake or not." He stood up from the crate he was sitting on. "Lieutenant Hawkeye, keep an eye on them, and Falman, you stay with her until the Lieutenant says you can go. I'm going to get some back up. We'll switch shifts later."

"Yes sir!" They both saluted.

Hei got up and walked over to the large crate Yin was laid down upon, and gazed down at Yin. The silver-haired girl seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough, but for all he knew, her situation could be serious. And although this Mustang had seemed assured that she would be fine, that did not change the fact that he was Hei's enemy. It wouldn't be hard for him to pretend that Yin was alright in order to lull him into a false sense of security. Hei wanted to get her to some real doctors; there was always the greedy type that would keep quiet for money. He had never intended to stay here and tell Mustang his life story anyways; as soon as he got the chance to escape he would take it.

But for now…Although he hated to have to trust these people, the gun the woman lieutenant had trained on Yin was a vivid reminder that he could do nothing. His bullet-proof attire lay forgotten in the apartment. And even though he had considered keeping some of his weapons hidden when the Flame Alchemist had ordered him to get rid of all his weapons, he hadn't wanted to endanger Yin's life on the off chance the Colonel noticed.

He could still use his electrical alchemy, but he was at a huge disadvantage since there was nothing metallic or wet that he could use to conduct electricity in this room of the shack. The only way he'd be able to kill someone would be if they came close enough for him to touch, and that didn't seem likely. The lieutenant did not look like the type to be incompetent, and he doubted that she would fall asleep or not pay attention to what he was doing. She gave him a steely look as she noticed his scrutiny, as if she could tell what he was thinking. Hei returned her glare and leaned up against the crate Yin was on. He hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep in a long time, and so before he realized what was happening, he was asleep. 

* * *

Huang was in a bar nursing the strongest drink he could get his hands on, which, knowing that he and the bartender were good friends, was probably actually just a very watered down version of the liquor. The bartender was currently staring at him in sympathy and worry—the news of Isozaki's death had traveled fast and would probably be in tomorrow's papers. Isozaki's wife had been hysterical with grief; seeing her newlywed husband covered in blood with that empty expression on his face had been too much. She was currently sedated in a hospital. Huang took a swig of the drink. It didn't matter if the liquor was watered down anyways. No matter how much alcohol he drank, he never became drunk. It had always seemed convenient when he was tracking criminals while undercover, to be able to outdrink them and still keep his senses sharp. But now… he wanted to be really drunk. Really, really drunk.

The bartender opened his mouth to speak. Huang found himself wishing desperately that he wouldn't ask any questions; that he wouldn't force Huang to remember what had happened just earlier that day. He couldn't face it now.

The bartender, not being able to read Huang's thoughts, asked the question anyways. "Did they catch him? The man who—"

Huang cut him off, not wanting to hear the rest of the sentence. "No. A certain Flame Alchemist claims that he never saw the criminal, even though a window happened to be broken right when he was there, and there was evidence that criminal had left using that route. One of my best cops reported that the Colonel was extremely uncooperative when they started asking questions, and that he seemed to be making up stories left and right."

The bartender's eyes widened. "So then…"

"So Mustang probably got some money off of helping him escape," Huang said, taking another huge gulp of his drink. "Or maybe even hired him for some assassination work of his own. I know from experience that people his age don't become that high-ranking that fast without doing something shady. Either way..." Huang was gripping his glass so tightly that his hands were shaking. "Either way, he's a corrupt bastard who doesn't mind us lowly cops getting killed as long as he gets what he wants."

The bartender looked at Huang in surprise. He had seen Huang come here after losing fellow MPs, but Huang had always tried to distance himself from his partners. Isozaki, Huang's rookie partner, had somehow been able to break Huang's self-made barrier, and the two had become friends over time. So it wasn't all that surprising that Huang was angry, but—

"Damn it," swore Huang. "Maybe I really am drunk." The bartender didn't know what to say as he saw tears flowing down Huang's face. So he dawdled on the spot for a moment, and then hurriedly left to go serve another customer. When he shot an uncomfortable look at Huang a while later, he saw that his face was dry, but his shaking hands were still clutching the drink in a rage. He was holding the glass strangely—it looked as if he were imaging that he was wringing someone's neck. 

* * *

Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye looked up from her charges briefly as she heard a car approaching. She was alone in the room watching Hei and Yin sleep; she had sent Falman to get some rest after she had confirmed that the pair was really asleep. She turned back to stare at the odd pair. They would need to figure out how many people would be needed to keep a watch on this dangerous man… and girl.

Lieutenant Hawkeye didn't know what to think about the girl. She still hadn't woken up yet, but she didn't appear to have the body of a fighter—she was extremely slender and delicate-looking. She knew that it had been reported that the girl was spying for the assassin, and initially she had thought it was because he was forcing the silver-haired girl to do it for him. But after seeing how genuinely protective the man had been of this girl, it was likely that they really were working together. That was all she had been able to gather so far about the pair. And to top it off, the assassin was quite the actor, from what the Colonel had told her of the police reports, and he seemed to be able to keep his secrets. This was going to be difficult…

"Lieutenant Hawkeye," Mustang said in greeting as he walked into the room from behind her.

"Sir," she acknowledged, not looking away from her charges, gun still pointed at them.

"I brought Havoc," he told her. "You can take a break now."

"Yes sir," Hawkeye replied but still didn't look away or move her gun until Havoc had walked up and pointed his gun at Hei. Then she exhaled softly and lowered her gun. She looked over at the Colonel. He was now watching the pair with an odd expression on his face. The girl was lying on the crate peacefully, her face expressionless even in sleep. The man was sitting on the ground and leaning against the crate; his head was drooping, and he was snoring softly. Occasionally he would twitch, with a grimace on his face, and then resume the snoring. "Sir…" Hawkeye asked quietly, and glanced over to Colonel Mustang.

"Hmm…?"

"Why did you protect this man? He has killed several higher-ups, and just today he killed a police officer."

"Information," Mustang replied. "He seems to know something about military-sanctioned human experimentation. He even said he was experimented on himself."

"And you believed him?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm usually a good judge of character, Lieutenant. He was telling the truth, I could see it."

Lieutenant Hawkeye took in his obstinate expression and sighed in defeat. "And you're planning to go after military command by revealing these experiments then?"

"Exactly," Mustang responded with a smirk. But then his expression sobered. "From what Armstrong managed to tell us, our superiors are somehow involved with the philosopher's stone. It's quite possible that we can find connections to the stone by looking into this. And …" Mustang's eyes hardened into a murderous look that could rival Hei's. "These same people might have something to do with Hughes's murder."

Hawkeye's eyes narrowed at the look on Mustang's face. "I see… And I assume you're not planning to send this man to assassinate them."

"No," Mustang said in a harsh enough voice that Havoc looked over from where he was guarding the two criminals. "Once I find out who killed Hughes, I will kill him myself."

Hawkeye and Havoc stared at him for a moment. Then, Havoc shrugged indifferently, or what would have been indifferent if not for the slightly scared expression on his face, and returned to pointing his gun at Yin and Hei. Hawkeye continued staring at him, her eyebrows pulling together, either in anger or worry. "And what do you plan to do if this is the man who killed Hughes, sir? It's more likely that he murdered Hughes than not, considering he has murdered several other high-ranking officers. Will you still keep him alive for information?"

"That's why I haven't asked him about Hughes yet," Mustang replied, glaring up at the roof. "I'll get all the information I can out of him, and then, if he admits to killing Hughes, he's dead."

Hawkeye watched him, concerned at the expression on the Colonel's face. "I really hope that's not the case, Colonel," she stated as she turned and walked away from him. "Now if you don't mind, I'll take my break." She looked over her shoulder to eye Mustang, who was still staring murderously up at the ceiling. "You really should rest too, Colonel. It's been a long day," she said emphatically.

Mustang blinked and glanced over at her. His glare disappeared and was replaced by an aged look. "Maybe that's a good idea, Lieutenant." He looked over at Havoc. "Wake one of us up once you start to feel too tired to keep a good watch."

"I'm tired _now_, Colonel," said Havoc with an exasperated whine. "You woke me up to come watch over some psychotic murderer that you smuggled here, remember?"

Mustang cracked a grin. "And I expect you to be fully alert at work tomorrow as well. We wouldn't want anyone to be suspicious, now would we?" His grin widened into a smirk as Havoc pouted.

"You're not making me come here tomorrow right?" Havoc asked petulantly. "I have a date with Solaris tomorrow, and–"

"Guess you'll have to cancel then. If you're a real man, you'll be able to keep the girl anyways—"

"Not everyone's a lady's man like you Colonel!!"

"It's not my fault I'm so handsome."

"Yeah, well, how did you know how to make _black_ hair dye in the first place, Colonel? Got some white hairs we don't know about?"

"What?!"

Hawkeye silently thanked Havoc for his intervention as he and Colonel Mustang bickered back and forth; the Colonel had turned back into his usual snarky self. She didn't know how to deal with the murderous one she had seen just a while ago. She hadn't seen that look, she thought with a small shiver, since they had been in Ishbal.


	3. Awakening

A/N: I still don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist. Unfortunately.

Thank you, book-sage for the reviews! Reviews make me happy! :)

* * *

When Hei woke up, he immediately tensed. This wasn't the apartment; it was before dawn, and the usual clatter of the commuters getting ready to drive to work wasn't there. It was too quiet, with only the chirping of crickets. The smell of rotting wood and mold permeated the air here. He tried to concentrate his morning-muddled mind to focus on his surroundings. There was a breeze whistling through the cracks in the wall, and he was leaning against what felt like wood. _I'm… in a shack of some sort?_ Hei thought to himself. _Have I been taken prisoner?_ He cracked an eye open. He was definitely in a shack, but it looked familiar…

"Hei," a familiar voice said immediately behind him.

He jumped up and whirled around. "Yin!" Yin was sitting up on the crate that had been her bed. He remembered what happened upon seeing her bandages. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Yin replied dully, staring at something behind him. But Yin always did that.

Hei narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but he heard a noise behind him and spun around again. He froze; he had the barrel of a gun pointed at his forehead. His eyes moved down the barrel to see that it was the Lieutenant from yesterday who pointing it at him.

"Don't move," she ordered. "No matter how good you are, I guarantee I can pull a trigger faster than you can dodge." Hei glared at her but stayed where he was. She didn't take her eyes off of him for a moment as she commanded, "Havoc, go tell the Colonel that the girl is awake. Falman, watch the girl. You," she said to Hei, "are going to have to answer our questions now."

Hei didn't react to this news at all, except when his eyes flickered momentarily over to Yin. There was no way he could get to her in time without either of them being shot. And he doubted this woman would hesitate to shoot; she seemed far too comfortable with a gun.

"Fine," he said frigidly. "What do you want to hear first?"

"What we asked you yesterday," said Mustang as he came into the room from behind Hei with Havoc following behind him. "Specifically, what is this project that you were talking about? The one you said involved human experimentation."

Yin's eyes widened slightly. "Hei."

Hei sighed and looked at her. The project didn't hold good memories for either of them. But maybe… he could use this to his advantage.

"What will you do once I tell you about it?"

"If it's something illegal, then I'm going to try to expose the officers in charge."

Hei smiled thinly in amusement and shook his head. Everyone except Yin stared at him in amazement; they hadn't seen anything even close to a smile on him yet. "You have no idea what you're up against."

Mustang leaned forward a little. "And what would that be?"

Hei watched him with a hard gaze. "It's not just a couple higher ups. It's the entire military in this country."

Mustang's eyes widened. There was a general intake of breath from his subordinates.

"What do you mean?"Mustang demanded.

"Everyone in military command is involved in this. If you tried to show the public the truth about the military, you'd be dead in a heartbeat. I know they've already killed off several officers who realized the truth."

Mustang stood stock still for a moment. "Wait… the military is killing off its own officers for this?"

Hei didn't say anything, but Mustang was already flashing back to what the phone operator had reported Hughes saying: that the military was in danger. Is this what he had meant? Had he been trying to convey how he had been killed before he died?

"Tell me what you know about the officers who were killed off," Mustang demanded harshly. "I need to know."

Hei's mouth tightened into a thin line. "All I know is that they have eyes all over, so they know almost immediately when someone finds out. Nowhere in Central is safe. Even this place…" His eye swept over the decrepit shack. "If it's close enough to Central, he might be able to spy in here."

"Who's 'he'?" Mustang asked commandingly.

Hei looked extremely wary. "I can't tell you that."

"And why can't you?" Mustang asked in an ice-cold voice. Havoc shivered at the Colonel's unusual frigidity.

"For someone who just wanted to expose the higher ups you're asking a lot of questions about the officer murders. You haven't asked about the project itself or where it is—"

"Damn it, just tell me!" Mustang bellowed. Havoc and Hawkeye jumped.

Hei paused for a moment. "I see. One of the murdered officers was a friend of yours?"

Mustang glared at him. Hei returned the look, and then ran his fingers through his hair. Yin looked as emotionless as ever. But Hei could tell she was nervous from the way her hands were clenching her dress; she had good reason, considering Pride could be listening to every word they said. _But,_ Hei thought_, I got some very valuable information out of this. _This man seemed quite bent on revenging his friend's murder. His type would often stoop to do almost anything to get vengeance. And if he was focused on revenge, it could become easier to escape. Not to mention the alchemist might take out some of Hei's targets while carrying out his vengeance. All Hei had to do was set it in motion.

"I'll tell you this much. He's a Homunculus. Made up of a Philosopher's Stone. And his name is Pride."

* * *

In the small guest room used for traveling automail patients above Mr. Garfield's automail shop, Edward Elric was tentatively trying to ease a pack of water he had frozen with alchemy onto a large bump on his head. He had just situated it perfectly when Winry barged into the room. He jumped, and the block of ice smacked into his head.

"Ed, there's a call for you!" Winry yelled at the same time as Ed shouted, "Ow, ow, ow!"

Winry blinked and looked at him as he writhed on the bed. "What are you doing?"

"I was trying to put some ice on that massive bump that _you_ gave me, Winry! And then you made me hit my head again!"

Winry seemed to swell in anger. "That's your own fault Ed! And if you hadn't gone breaking your arm in another fight, I wouldn't have thrown the wrench at you! You can't even keep out of a fight for two hours! Two! Hours!"

"I told you, that crazy Xingese guy picked a fight with me, and then sent his servants to do his dirty work!"

"Don't you dare insult Master Ling!" came a voice from above the ceiling.

"Uh oh," Ed muttered, paling for a moment. And sure enough, a sword stabbed through the roof, just barely missing Ed's head on the bed. Feathers went flying everywhere as the sword skewered the pillow. Ed pushed himself as far away from the sword as possible and jumped off the bed.

"You see? She tried to kill me!" He pointed at the feather-covered weapon accusingly.

Winry opened her mouth to respond scathingly, but she was interrupted by Al yelling up the stairs.

"Brother, what are you _doing_ up there? The Colonel's on the phone, and he says it's urgent!"

"Coming, coming," grumbled Ed, and he tucked one hand into a pocket as he made his way out the door. It would have been impossible to put his other hand in another pocket because at the moment he was completely without a right arm. He had lost his mechanical right arm just a couple of hours ago while trying to trap Ling's bodyguard, the person currently on the roof who had nearly stabbed him. _She takes her job way too seriously_, thought Ed as he descended the stairs. _She's going to end up killing me if she stays around any longer._ Although, he mused retrospectively, the same could be said of Winry. One day, she was going to kill him with that wrench, he was sure of it.

"Brother!" Al called in exasperation from the workshop, where the phone was hooked up. "Could you hurry it up?"

"I'm right here, Al," Ed said in irritation from the doorway to the workshop.

"…Oh," said Al sheepishly. "Well… here you go. And big brother," Al lowered his voice to a whisper. "Be nice to him. He sounds really stressed out about something."

Ed snorted. "Probably just procrastinated on his paperwork too long. Just give me the phone, Al."

"I'm not joking Ed," Al warned him seriously as he handed over the phone. "Something's wrong."

Ed looked at him for a moment and nodded to show that he had understood. He held the phone up to his ear. "Something the matter, Colonel?" He even said it politely.

"You bet there is," growled Mustang. "What the heck took you so long?"

Ed scowled and his polite tone vanished immediately. "Stairs," he said shortly. "But what's so urgent that you had to talk to me immediately, _Colonel_?"

"You would have to be in a damn tower to take that long walking down some stairs, Fullmetal," grumbled Mustang.

"Enough with the stairs!" Ed yelled. Alphonse covered his face with a huge, leather hand in exasperation. "What did you call here for?"

Mustang sighed. "Getting straight to the point…What do you know about homunculi?"

Ed sobered immediately as he felt his throat go dry. He could remember his encounter with the homunculus Greed just a short time ago. Greed had been the reason he had had to come to Rush Valley in the first place—Greed had nearly ripped his automail to pieces, and then while fighting Lan Fan, the bodyguard of the annoying Xingese guy, Ling, Ed had had to finish destroying his fake arm to survive in the fight.

But most of all, he remembered Greed's incredible regeneration abilities, and his offer to tell Ed how to make a homunculus in exchange for Ed telling him how to bind a soul to armor. Although Ed had been far too angry with Greed to accept at the time, it would've been immensely helpful in getting Al his body back. Had the Colonel met another homunculus? Would he have another chance to get Al back to normal?

"I know a bit," Ed admitted. "I met and fought one a while ago in Dublith. His name was Greed."

Ed's statement was met with silence. "Uh… Colonel?"

"WHAT THE HELL?" Mustang suddenly shouted in loud disbelief. Ed cursed and held the phone away from him.

"Warn me if you're going to do that!" Ed yelled back into to the phone. Mustang didn't respond, and Ed could hear him muttering to himself. He cautiously brought the phone back to his ear.

"Didn't think he was telling the truth," Mustang was murmuring to himself. "If homunculi do exist … then—"

"Hey, Colonel, do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Ed asked acerbically. "That's not a question I get every day."

Mustang sighed, and Ed could almost see Mustang running his fingers through his hair as he tried to think up a response. "I'm holding… someone… in custody right now who claims to know about a homunculus spying for the military. He even said that the homunculus was made of a philosopher's stone. I didn't really believe him, but I thought I'd try contacting you first. I admit; I don't know much about forbidden alchemy like this."

Ed winced at Mustang's choice of words. While technically he _was_ more well-versed in forbidden alchemy than Mustang due to his and Al's attempt at human transmutation when they were kids, it still hurt to be reminded of his mistake. But if it was forbidden alchemy that was going to help him get Al's body back, then that's what he would research. And since this involved the philosopher's stone, it was worth looking into.

"I'm coming over there," Ed said.

A short pause. Then...

"WHAT?" Al and Mustang shouted simultaneously.

"Brother, you're missing an arm! You can't do anything right now!"

"No way! You're not getting involved in this Fullmetal! You have no idea what—"

"Shut up, both of you!" Ed roared, and incredibly, both Al and the Colonel fell silent. Although, in the Colonel's case, Ed felt, it was probably more from surprise than actually meaning to obey Ed's command. "Colonel, I'm coming whether you want me to or not, and I'll hunt you down when I get there if I have to. This could be a huge help in getting Al's body back. And Al," Ed said, looking at his little brother. "Winry was going to come with us to Central anyways to see Mr. Hughes. We can just leave earlier, and get my arm fixed when we get there."

Al sighed but nodded his acceptance. The other side of the phone, however, was unnaturally quiet. "Something the matter, Colonel?" Ed asked suspiciously.

"Ed… about Hughes. He's… he's… gone," Mustang said quietly.

"Wait—what?" Ed asked in confusion.

There was a long pause, and then Ed heard the Colonel take in a big breath. "He…had to go to the countryside. It was getting dangerous here, so he fled with his family. You should tell Winry not to expect to see him."

"Oh… that's too bad," Ed said mussing up his hair up in frustration. "I guess it's dangerous work being an investigator… But Winry will still come, as long as I pay her an extra fee." A really _big _fee, he thought to himself with a grimace. Despite how long they had known each other, Winry had no problem trying to bankrupt him every time he broke his automail.

"…Alright, Fullmetal. But… make sure you're careful."

Ed blinked in surprise. That was definitely strange. The Colonel had _never_ said anything like that to him before. "Uh… okay."

"I'll see you in a couple days then. Come by my office when you're ready to talk to our informant."

"Alright... Bye."

After Ed hung up, he stared at the phone for a moment. Something was wrong. Something besides the existence of homunculi, anyways.

* * *

As Roy hung up the phone he turned around to see a myriad of sympathetic faces on his subordinates. He was in the shack, where Fuery had managed to set up their own phone by tapping into some nearby phone lines. Strangely enough, it was their captives' usual blank faces, not the concerned ones of his subordinates, that drew his attention the most in the cluster of faces. It seemed unnatural for whatever reason.

"You didn't tell him, sir?" Hawkeye asked him. She was the least sympathetic looking of his subordinates. She had been watching him with a piercing, but not accusing, look towards the end of his phone conversation. "That's going to make it worse when he does find out what happened to Hughes."

"I couldn't tell him…" Mustang said ruefully. He scruffed his hair and sighed. "I'm turning into as much of a softie as Major Armstrong."

"No," a soft voice disagreed emotionlessly with him from behind. Everyone, including Hei, turned in astonishment to face the blank-faced girl who had uttered the statement. She kept her unwavering stare at the wall, seeing something they could not. "That's not being kind," she said. "It's cruel… " She looked in Mustang's direction, and even though she wasn't looking directly at anyone in particular, Mustang felt his skin crawl at her creepily blank stare. "It's cruel."


	4. Violence: Then and Now

A/N: I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist.

I was in a good mood, so I decided to post a chapter early. :P Anyway, Barry the Chopper's return might seem kinda random, but since Lieutenant Hawkeye was called away from her shopping to keep an eye on Hei, she didn't get attacked by Barry the Chopper when he went on that killing rampage. So I figured he would have attacked someone else instead, and, since not everyone carries around guns in their shopping bags, he would have had more success when trying to kill people.

* * *

A couple of hours after Mustang's phone call, a fat man came barging into the shack. Everyone looked up in surprise.

"Second Lieutenant Breda!" exclaimed Mustang. "You were supposed to be on standby at the office! Has something happened?"

"Y…Yeah" wheezed Breda. "There were a bunch of murders last night by some armored guy carrying a butcher's knife. He's killed at least twelve people, and five are still in critical condition. The city's in a panic, so the Fuhrer's ordered everyone on duty in Central to help search for him."

Fuery, Mustang, Hawkeye, Havoc, and Falman looked at each other. "We can't do that," said Mustang flatly. "There's no way I'm leaving this guy by himself."

"You're going to look really suspicious if you don't go, Colonel. There're already quite a few people who suspect you in helping him escape," warned Breda.

Mustang cursed. "Well, we can't leave him. He could have accomplices hidden somewhere, so just tying him up isn't going to do much good either…"

"Excuse me sir!" butted in Lieutenant Hawkeye. "But I believe I was on leave when you apprehended this man. I'm still technically on leave today. I'll watch him."

Everyone turned to stare at her. "That…might work," said Breda slowly. "Especially if we can get someone to testify that you were off enjoying yourself somewhere."

"All the people I know that might lie for me are going to be involved in the search," admitted Riza. "But it's better than the alternative of leaving an assassin by himself without any guards."

Mustang still seemed worried. "Are you sure you can handle him by yourself, Lieutenant?"

"I did last night, in case you can't remember," she reminded him frostily.

"That's different! He was asleep!"

"If we tie him up he shouldn't be much of a problem."

Mustang considered the situation for a moment, and then consented with a frustrated growl. "Fine." He bent down and sketched a transmutation circle out of the dirt on the floor. He placed his hand on the ground and drew out a two cords of rope, leaving a sizable indentation in the wood floor. Turning to Hei, he walked over with the rope. Hei had bags under his eyes; apparently he had not slept well last night. It made him seem much more frightening when he looked at Mustang coldly, but, in any case, he allowed his wrists and legs to be bound.

When Mustang was done, he looked up at his subordinates. "Let's go." As they filed out the door, he glanced back at the Lieutenant.

She nodded at him. "Go on, sir. I'll be fine."

Mustang still looked apprehensive but followed his subordinates out the door to the car they had hidden in the woods.

Hei watched the proceedings, exhausted. He hadn't gotten much sleep at all last night, although that was nothing new. When he and Yin weren't busy running from someone trying to kill them, he had nightmares nearly every night. He pushed himself back to the crate that Yin was sitting on using his tied-together legs, and leaned against it. He couldn't resist being pulled into sleep. His eyes drooped, and his awareness of his surroundings slowly vanished. That is, until the same nightmare that had been haunting him last night started to play like a movie without a stop button—he couldn't get out of the flashback.

"_Big Brother! Big Brother!"_

_ "What is it Bai?" a boy asked, turning around from where he was staring at the clear night sky on the outskirts of the slum he and his family were living in. The boy was Hei, about six years old, and nearly unrecognizable from his current day version. His eyes were lacking the deadness that plagued them presently, and he was smiling as his younger sister ran up to him panting._

_ Bai stopped and rested her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. "Big… Brother… Mommy and Daddy…"_

_ "Hmm?" Hei asked. Peering at her closer, he realized that she was crying, and that she looked terrified. "Bai? What's wrong?"_

_ "Some people came… and they hurt Mommy and Daddy… and they're not moving anymore! They wouldn't wake up!" She looked at Hei in absolute panic. "What's happening? What do we do?"_

_ Hei looked at her in confusion. "What? What are you talking about? Slow down for a second—"_

_ "Mommy told me to run away," babbled a sobbing Bai. "But we can't leave her there! What if those people hurt Mommy more?"_

_ Hei looked at her skeptically. That was impossible right? Mom was a grown-up after all. And grown-ups never got hurt, he knew, because they never cried. Bai was probably lying again. Mom had said she was going through a phase; she lied about everything these days. But still, her crying was unnerving him._

"_Maybe we should do what Mom said," said Hei, trying to placate her. "I'm sure she'll be okay…"_

"_No!" screamed Bai. Hei jumped in surprise. "I'm not leaving Mommy alone with those mean people! They made Mommy cry!"_

_ "Shh…!" Hei urged her, frantically trying to quiet her hysterical yelling. Bai was starting to really frighten him. Was Mom really hurt? Had someone made her cry? If Bai was telling the truth, he had to go help. "Shh! Ok, we'll go help Mom. Calm down, and show me where she is."_

_ Bai nodded, seeming a bit calmer. She was trembling all over. _

_ A pebble shifted a couple of feet away. They both jumped at the sound and spun around to see their mother. She was completely unharmed. "Quickly, come here. We need to leave now," she whispered urgently._

_Hei and Bai stared at her for a moment. Then, Hei looked at Bai in outrage. "You liar! That wasn't funny!" He slapped her, and Bai tore her eyes away from her mother to stare dazedly at him in shock._

"_But… that can't be Mommy. When I saw her, that man had cut off her head… Did she put it back on?"_

_Hei's blood ran cold at what Bai was saying. But still… she was obviously lying. His mother was right in front of him!_

_Hei ran up to his mother. She would know what to do, just like always. After a moment's hesitation, Bai stumbled after him, sobbing harder than ever. Hei hugged his mother tightly. "You're really okay, Mom?" Hei asked looking up at her. He started crying as he saw her face; Bai was really mean, he had been so scared._

"_I'm okay," she comforted him hugging him back. "But…" and as Hei watched his mother smiled sadistically. Hei had never seen his mother like this, and it somehow frightened him more than Bai had. He let go of her and backed away quickly. His mother followed him, her grin widening with each step. "I'm not your mother. She's dead." _

"_What?" gasped Hei. "No… you're lying! You're right here!" Bai looked very confused and hid herself behind Hei._

"_Like I said," the person who looked like his mother said in a sing-song voice. "I'm not your mother." And with a shower of red sparks, the image of Hei and Bai's mother fell away, to leave someone with long, spiky hair. Hei couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl: it was wearing what appeared to be a kind of miniskirt and a short, sleeveless top, but it looked masculine. Whatever it was, the person's face was nearly split in two by his maniacal grin as he watched the pair shiver in fear. He crouched down and leaned forward until his face was directly across from theirs. "Hello there, little test subjects. I just killed off your entire family. At least, all except for you two." Hei and Bai whimpered and drew closer together._

"_No…" Hei whispered to himself. _That can't be true. It can't. He's lying, _he chanted to himself in his thoughts. The thing in the miniskirt ignored him. _

"_And so, because I, Envy, am so kind, I'm going to adopt one of you orphans and bring you to your new home in the lab… " He sighed dramatically and stood back up. He closed his eyes. "Ah… but I only was told to bring one brat back. I wonder who should I pick?" He opened one eye to look down at them calculatingly. "Ah! I know! I'll make you fight! The winner survives and the other… Hmm… The loser will be fed to the chimeras." He gleefully watched them to see their reaction._

"_L-l-leave u-us alone!" Hei stuttered, spreading out his arms and stepping out in front of his sister. He was shaking so hard that his teeth were chattering together. He had no idea what a chimera was, but he definitely did not want to be eaten._

"_Oh, you have some guts, kid!" Envy noted approvingly. "I like that. It makes you more fun to break."_

"_No!" yelled a sobbing Bai, suddenly running out from behind Hei. "Don't break Big Brother! Don't break him! I don't want him to break too!" _

"_Shut up!" Envy suddenly shouted, kicking out at Bai. It connected with her stomach and she bent over double, gasping desperately for breath. "You're so loud! It's annoying!"_

"_Bai!" yelled Hei. Before he could move, however, the same foot that had kicked Bai knocked all the air out of him. He collapsed on the ground. He couldn't move; his lungs wouldn't work. His mind was in chaos; was everyone really dead? Was this just another trick?_

"_Hmm…" he could hear Envy murmuring. "Maybe it'd just be easier to do it myself… I think I'll kill the little girl. She seems more irritating."_

_Hei's eyes went wide. "No!" he tried to shout but it barely came out as a whisper. "Don't… my sister…"_

"_Oh…?" Envy turned his head towards him. Apparently he had still heard him. "Do you know what that would mean, squirt? That means you would die instead. Do you want to die?" He asked with a huge grin on his face._

_Hei shuddered. He was still gasping for breath, but he knew the answer to that question for sure. "No… don't… w-wanna die." He reached out his trembling hand to hold onto Envy's foot in a feeble attempt to keep him from kicking out. "But… d-don't… hurt B-Bai."_

"_Don't touch me, you little brat!" spat Envy. He easily pulled his leg out of Hei's grasp and put it lightly on top of Hei's head. "Do you know what will happen when I put my full weight down on this foot? It will crush your head; your blood and brains will go everywhere." Envy licked his lips. "If you want that so badly, I guess I could oblige you…"_

_Hei was shaking so hard that it seemed like the whole world was vibrating. He had never been this frightened in his life. He couldn't think of anything, couldn't think of his sister, or his family. He couldn't think of anything except for the foot on his head that was going to kill him in a couple of moments. His lungs seemed to regain their functionality in his terror, and he was suddenly gasping in quick, shallow breaths. Tears spilled out of the corners of his eyes, and his pupils dilated as Envy's foot pressed down slowly—_

"_Big Brother!" gasped Bai from her spot on the ground. "Stop it!"_

"_Enough," a voice said somewhere out of the darkness. "Enough of your games Envy. You have two perfectly promising candidates for the lab program. Bring them back alive. Having two people so loyal to each other from such a young age could prove useful."_

"_Whaaat?" Envy complained. "You're no fun Pride. How is it going to help having two of these brats running around the lab?"_

"_Be quiet!" commanded the voice. "Think about it! We can use one of them as a hostage, at the very least."_

"_Hmph," sulked Envy; he didn't seem to have any problem with Pride's logic however."Fine. It wasn't going to be any fun killing kids this whiny anyway. Come on, pipsqueak one and two. If you come with me I'll let you live. If not, you're going to die. Your choice."_

_Hei staggered to his feet. He had a pounding headache, and the world was swirling around him. He stumbled forward one step on wobbly legs. He saw that Bai had managed to get up as well._

"_W-what do we do, big brother?" Bai asked for the second time that night. She sniffed and rubbed at her runny nose. "I don't wanna go with him. He hurt Mommy! I wanna go back home!"_

_Hei gulped and looked at Envy. "We can't Bai. He'll hurt us again if we try to leave. We have to go with him." He was still shivering horribly. He didn't want to go against Envy again._

_Bai grabbed his hand. She was shaking as well. "Alright, let's go," she said in a wavering voice, trying to seem brave. Hei was impressed with her effort; he couldn't manage anything like that right now._

"_Yeah," he replied, holding onto Bai's hand like a lifeline. He started walking after Envy, who was impatiently gesturing for them to follow him. He tried unsuccessfully to concentrate on walking and not on what had just happened and not on his parents' deaths. He would have to try to explain to Bai what had happened later. New tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. "Let's go." _

"Hei," a voice intruded on the dream. Hei awoke with a start, and realized that he was shaking violently. "Hei," the voice said more urgently. Hei took a gasping breath and put his head against his bound hands, trying to calm himself. He was covered in sweat. _But it was just a nightmare, _he told himself. _Just a dream. It's illogical to get so upset over something that happened long ago._

Taking another deep breath, Hei looked from over his hands to where he had heard the voice that had woke him up. Yin was there, although she still wasn't facing him. Although her face betrayed no emotions, Hei noticed that her hands were again balled up in fists at her sides against her polka-dotted dress.

Unexpectedly, Yin unclenched her fists and reached out her hand. She started feeling around the edge of the crate as if searching for something. Her hand stopped once it found Hei's hand, which was still at his face, and she let it rest there. Hei blinked in surprise. "Are you alright," Yin stated. It was in the same monotone voice as always, but to his astonishment, Hei recognized the emotion she should not be able to feel behind the action. _She's… worried about me?_

"I'm fine," Hei said. It was a lie; he hadn't been alright for some time now. But he did feel better. It was irrational… but he was glad Yin was with him.

He heard the wood creak across the room, and he tensed. He whipped his head around to see the Lieutenant that Mustang had ordered to guard him still pointing the gun at Yin and giving him a strange look. He had been uncharacteristically unobservant after waking up from the nightmare and hadn't noticed her at all.

"What?" he asked her with a hint of aggression in his voice. His eyes didn't leave the gun she was pointing at them.

The Lieutenant regarded him cautiously. "That girl… is she blind? She didn't seem to see your hand a moment ago."_  
_

Hei took away his hands from his face and put the hand that Yin was touching on top of the crate. Yin didn't withdraw her hand from his. Unnoticed by the Lieutenant (Hei was blocking her line of sight), he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Yin's hand find the rope's knot on his wrist and start picking at it, looking for a way to untie it. Hei had to struggle for a moment to suppress his surprise. For years, Yin had had no free will whatsoever, and could do nothing by herself at all. Recently, however, she had not only begun to act on her own, but she had also started expressing emotions in a limited form. It still shocked him every time it happened. Maybe, somehow, what the researchers had done to her wasn't permanent?

Hei realized the Lieutenant was waiting for an answer. He looked away from the Lieutenant with a stony expression without answering her question. If he looked directly at her, it almost felt as if the Lieutenant might somehow sense that he was up to something.

Not hearing a response from Hei, Yin turned her head to gaze in the general direction of Lieutenant Hawkeye's voice. "Yes," she replied. Hei could still feel her fingers fumbling to untie the knot.

"…I see," Lieutenant Hawkeye said. She had wondered about it before when the girl had never looked anyone in the eye, not even Hei. But still… it could be part of some elaborate trick to make them let their guard down. "Do you mind if I make sure you're telling the truth?" she asked Yin in a polite voice.

Hei stiffened. The Lieutenant would see that Yin was trying to free him. But Yin didn't seem to mind the question. "No." Her emotionless voice fell flat in the air.

"Thank you," said the Lieutenant to Yin. If the girl was truly blind, this could be invaluable information. They could focus more of their guard on the much more deadly assassin; any attempt of hers to escape alone would be futile. Hei hadn't seemed to want her to figure this out, so she guessed she was on the right track. "Alright…" she mused, trying to think of some test to confirm Yin's blindness. She took one hand off the gun (although the other hand was still firmly pointing the gun at Yin) and reached back to the lantern that had been providing the light last night. She spared it a quick glance out of the corner of her eye. The candle in the middle of it was still burning.

Lieutenant Hawkeye strode over to the pair. Hei grew tenser with each step she took in their direction. Hawkeye sighed. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt her. Although if you attack me," she threatened with cold eyes, "I _will_ shoot." She purposefully didn't specify who she would gun down—after her experience in Ishbal, she did not want to have to kill innocents any more than necessary. But even though this girl seemed to be innocent, if it came down to her survival and the success of Mustang's bid to become Fuhrer, Hawkeye knew she would do what she had to.

Hei did not relax, and he continued to follow all of her movements carefully.

She stopped in front of Yin. She put the gun to the girl's head, and placed the lantern in front of her strange, almost lavender, eyes. Peering into Yin's eyes she saw that neither of her pupils was reacting to the light. So she really was blind…

Out of the corner of her eye, Hawkeye detected a sudden movement. Her eyes widened as she realized it was Hei. _What the—?_ The gun went flying as Hei delivered a strong backhanded punch to her wrist. The Lieutenant gave a cry of surprise and dropped the lantern, which shattered. She saw that the ropes on Hei's hands had fallen away. _But_—_how?_ Her mind struggled to keep up with the sudden turn of events.

Hei pushed himself up using his hands, since his feet were still tightly bound, and managed to gather her into a headlock. He tightened his grip, choking her. The Lieutenant spluttered for breath and futilely struggled against his stranglehold.

There was the sound of a gunshot. Hei quickly turned his head to see who had entered the room; the Lieutenant was still firmly in his grasp. But… there was no one at the door. _Where…?_ His eyes roamed the room, searching for whoever his attacker was. Then, he saw the wisp of smoke coming out of the gun he had knocked out of the Lieutenant's hands. It must have gone off when it had landed on the ground.

Hei returned his attention to Hawkeye whose arms were now hanging limply at her sides. Except—_wait_, Hei thought, his eyes going wide as he saw in her hands a glint of light reflecting off metal. _Damn it!_ She had had another concealed gun, and had used his distraction at the previous gunshot to retrieve it. Her deceptively limp hands were pointing straight at the middle of his foot. Which he couldn't move out of the way because of the ropes binding his feet together.

The gun discharged with a loud "Bang!" and Hei yelled in pain. He dropped his arms from the Lieutenant's neck and fell backwards onto the ground, clutching his bound feet.

The Lieutenant collapsed as well, struggling to breathe. But it wasn't just from near strangulation—right before she had shot Hei's foot, she had been electrocuted. She knew that this man used electrical alchemy often to kill his targets, but he didn't have any circles on him; they had thoroughly searched him to make sure of that. He hadn't drawn any circles, or even clapped his hands as Ed did. _So how…?_ Her vision was blurring. _Damn it…_

As she fought to keep her eyes open, she could hear the girl calling out to Hei, and asking what had happened. _Well,_ Riza thought before everything disappeared into darkness. _I guess she really was blind…_


	5. The Fullmetal Alchemist Arrives

A/N: I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

Colonel Mustang wiped his sweaty brow as he grimly watched from his car as the MPs carried away a body bag containing what had once been a human being. Now, the bag just contained the chopped-up body parts of the woman that armored man had killed. He hated having to see bodies like that again. It reminded him of Ishbal.

Mustang sighed. It was hot today, and the heat was making the stench of the pile of bodies almost unbearable. The serial killer had walked in on a group of girls on their night out—few were spared. Four of the five people that had managed to escape with serious wounds had died that afternoon. The remaining person was in a coma, and unlikely to wake up for a while. Although few civilians were walking around, the street was swarming with a mass of blue and black uniforms ranging from the MPs to a couple Colonels. _People as high ranking as Colonels don't usually get called out to do dirty work like this_, Colonel Mustang mused. _Perhaps Breda is onto something. Maybe the higher-ups are trying to implicate me in helping Hei escape. Or maybe… _he thought with a sudden flash of intuition._ They already know that I have him, and they're trying to force me to leave him by himself. _If that was the case, then Lieutenant Hawkeye was in serious danger…

Mustang shook himself, fighting the urge to go back to make sure she was safe. That was ridiculous. How in the world would they know where Hei was located anyways? The Lieutenant would be fine.

"Sir!" a MP said crisply, walking up to him and saluting. "We've found parts to another body. We're currently trying to find the rest."

Mustang cursed. "So that brings the body count up to eighteen, including the people who died in the hospital," he murmured. "We've got to catch him before he strikes again…" He brought his hand to chin in thought. After about a minute, the MP fidgeted, wondering if he was dismissed or not. This seemed to bring Mustang back to the present.

"Right… get me a list of all the characteristics that you can get from the coroners about each of the girls that were killed. Then, I want the same exact list of the qualities of the girls whom he let escape."

The MP looked startled at this. "Do you think there might be a pattern in the types of women he likes to kill, sir?"

"It's possible. It's a place to start anyway. So, get to it!"

"Yes sir!" The MP ran away and started giving orders to a couple of MPs, who then scattered in various directions to carry out the tasks.

Mustang watched the police who hadn't been ordered to do anything mill about, unsure what to do. It was complete chaos. Central had certainly had a lot of terrorist attacks and assassinations lately, but they were obviously incompetent when it came to dealing with them. He sighed, and prepared to get out of the car to bring some semblance of order to the mass of police.

As he was putting his hand on the door, an older policeman suddenly came marching to the slackers. He didn't seem to see Mustang in the car. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" the man bellowed at the top of his voice. Most of the men jumped went silent at once. One man protested, but Mustang was far away enough that he couldn't hear what he was saying.

"I don't care if there are enough people searching for the bodies, you are NOT going to sit here doing nothing!" the man growled. "There are plenty of other things to do! Go interview the victims of the families! They know them best, try to see if there was some pattern to those the serial killer murdered and those he let escape!"

"We were already ordered to do that by Colonel Mustang, Huang," a younger cop whined. "What else is there to do?"

"Colonel… Mustang…?" repeated Huang so softly that the Colonel could barely hear him. Even from this distance he could see the man clench his fists so hard that they were shaking. Did the man hold some sort of grudge against him? That _was_ a shame… The only competent-looking MP in this whole division hated him.

Huang took several deep breaths, trying to steady himself. The whiny MP from before seemed to sense an escape from work. "Are you sure you should be on duty so soon Huang?" he suggested sneakily with a fake look of concern plastered on his face. "It was only yesterday that Isozaki was murdered—" he stopped speaking with a squeak as Huang grabbed him by the collar and pulled him off the ground from where he was sitting.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about that again," Huang commanded in a calm voice that was in stark contrast to his furious face. The MP seemed slightly frightened and nodded.

"S-sure…"

Huang threw him roughly back onto the ground. "Any other idiotic questions?" he asked acidly, as he gave the gaggle of MPs a death glare.

"No sir!" they said, suddenly straightening up in a belated attempt to seem professional.

"Good. Now, I want three of you to go and get info on the way these women died. Don't leave a scrap of information behind; we might be able to narrow down our search by finding out where the weapon came from. As for the rest of you…"

Since the situation seemed under control for now, Mustang decided to leave for headquarters to find out how the rest of the search was going. He started the car, and the noise of the engine caused several MPs to turn their heads.

"Pay attention to me when I'm talking!" barked Huang, not even glancing towards the car. The MPs turned sheepishly back to him. Mustang smirked. Definitely under control. He pulled away from the curve, and drove into the deserted street—people were staying in their houses today—no one wanted to be the next murder victim. Colonel Mustang knew that he should be trying to think of ways to solve this case, but as he turned down the road that would lead him to Central HQ, it was the image of the infuriated MP that stayed etched in his mind. Who was this Isozaki who had recently been murdered? He vaguely remembered the name from somewhere… He would have to ask Falman later. The man was a walking encyclopedia, he was sure to know.

But for now, he had to focus on his duty and stop whoever was massacring innocent civilians. He had promised himself after Ishbal that he would do everything he could to prevent a similar event from ever occurring again. He intended to keep that promise.

* * *

Huang tried to focus on ordering the incompetent military police around. Really, why did that MP have to remind him of Isozaki and Mustang? Because of him, he could barely concentrate, and he _needed_ to concentrate now. He was a cop; he needed to do his duty and bring justice to those who had been murdered, no matter how depressed he was feeling himself. But he couldn't bring himself to feel compelled to do his duty. Right now what he wanted to do was to find both the assassin and Mustang and shoot them on the spot. But that was impossible. He needed to focus. Focus.

A thought suddenly came to him. "Has anyone thought to have security checks at the train station?"

The few MPs remaining all gave him blank stares.

"Well?" Huang demanded, desperately trying not to be impatient. They were rookies after all. Just like—He didn't let himself finish that thought.

"Uh…"an MP said in deep concentration, putting a finger to his chin. "No, I don't think so."

"Damn it," growled Huang in frustration. "Officers these days… he might have already escaped the city by now if he was smart enough. Let's hope he's not. Alright," he said turning around to walk to his car he had parked somewhere nearby. "The rest of you, follow me in any cars you can get."

"All of us?" another MP said in surprise. "There's twenty of us!"

"What, do you think checking everyone who goes in and out of a train station only needed five people?" Huang asked in exasperation. _No matter how bad_… he paused in his thoughts for a moment. _Isozaki… was, these rookies are much, much worse_. "If anything, we'll need more people. Now, if you think you're up to the job," he said, eyeing them doubtfully, "come with me."

"Yes sir!" the group said automatically. Half of them forgot to salute.

Huang sighed. He would definitely have to send for back-up as soon as possible. At this rate, the serial killer would escape despite the checkpoint.

* * *

Ed sighed in relief as the train pulled up to the station. It hadn't been one of his better train rides. Their compartment was full—Ling, Winry, and Al had come with him—and he didn't have room to stretch out and take a nap like usual. And every time someone walked by his compartment, they would stop and stare at him. He almost wished he had gotten his arm fixed before heading out to Central, having an empty metal port instead of an arm was sure to attract people's attention. On top of everything else, however, Ling had come, his bodyguards riding on top of the train. Ed had again barely escaped being impaled by Lan Fan after he had called Ling ugly. And he had learned that Ling, who looked like an adult already, was only fifteen. And still… _taller_… then him. He twitched unconsciously just thinking about it. He didn't need another object of contrast to his… _perfectly normal_ height. Everyone else was just freakishly tall. It wasn't his fault—

He heard something clink against his empty metal port. He looked over to see that Winry had fallen asleep and was resting against his metal port. Her earrings must have made the clinking sound… Ed smiled at her despite himself. Her head had bent over, her mouth was open (she was drooling a little), and she making soft snoring sounds. When Winry had heard that they would be going to Central the next day, she had taken it upon herself to get as much of the arm finished beforehand as possible. She had stayed up all night. Although that was nothing new for her, he knew it still exhausted her.

"Awww. How cute," said Ling from across him with a smirk.

Ed glared at him, his face quickly turning pink. "Don't know what you're talking about."

Ling's smirk widened. "Oh, really? Then why are you giving her such a mushy look?"

"I'm not—!" Ed protested vehemently in embarrassment.

Winry stirred beside him. "Ugh… Ed. You're too loud," she groaned. She opened her eyes sleepily and saw she was resting against Ed. "Oh… uh, sorry!" she exclaimed, now wide awake and very flustered. "Didn't mean to… um…" She looked around wildly for a change of subject. "So, are we there yet?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Ed said, catching on. "We're getting off any second now—" he had just seen Al. "What?" he asked sharply. Al, as usual, had no expression on his face, but the light coming out of the eye holes on his armor were now slitted. Ed knew, after years of being with Al, that that meant he was amused.

Al chuckled all of a sudden. "Oh, nothing brother. Nothing at all."

Ed opened his mouth to yell at Al, but the voice of someone from outside the train cut him off. "Central City! Central City! All passengers are now permitted to leave the train! Central City!"

Ed got up hurriedly. "C'mon, let's go get the luggage."

Al got up, still chuckling quietly. "Okay, okay, slow down."

The man outside the train continued unexpectedly. "Due to recent murders in the city, for security reasons, all passengers are requested to have their luggage inspected. There will also be a short pat-down to ensure that no one has hidden any weapons."

Everyone in the compartment stared at each other, all humor forgotten.

"Murders… in the city?" Winry asked wide-eyed. "I haven't heard anything about that."

"It must have happened recently," said Al uneasily. "Good thing we don't have any weapons on us. We just transmute our own whenever we need them."

Ling groaned. "Aww man… I have some, and so do Lan Fan and Fuu… I don't want them confiscated, they're good quality…" He thought for a moment. "Oh well. Guess I won't be going to Central with you. Maybe I'll meet up with you later," he said with a grin.

"Huh?" asked Al. "What are you—"

"Lan Fan, can you cut a hole from the top of the train?"

"Yes, master." Ed, Al, and Winry watched in shock as a blade pierced the roof with a sound almost like a pop. Lan Fan continued stabbing the roof until she had made a large square pattern. Then, she kicked it in and it fell towards the group.

"Watch it!" yelled Ed as he pushed Winry out of the way of the ragged, falling metal. It hit Al with a large clang and clattered to the ground.

Lan Fan ignored Ed and held out a hand to her master.

Ling gave them a wave, a big grin on his face. "See ya later!" He grabbed Lan Fan's hand and was hauled onto the top of the train. They could hear the footsteps of the trio run along the roof, and then suddenly stop; presumably, they had jumped off.

Ed looked irritated. "Who does that Lan Fan girl think she is?" He gingerly stepped around the sharp metal on the floor. "She could have seriously injured someone…"

He looked up suddenly, sensing that someone was staring at him. He was right. There was a large gathering of passengers staring at them from outside their compartment. Ed sighed. Of course the noise wouldn't go unnoticed. Wonderful.

* * *

"Coming through, coming through," the MP said in a professional voice that carried over all the murmurings of the crowd outside a compartment. He hoped it would be something important. He was bored after an extremely dull day of searching luggage. If Huang hadn't come, he could be doing something else, _anything_ else. He just wanted the day to be over so he could go home already.

"Military Police, coming through. What's all the commotion about over here?" He had reached the compartment.

A couple of the people in the crowd pointed at a large scrap of metal on the ground in the shape of a square. _Where did that come from?_ he wondered. Then he realized with a start that it had previously belonged to the roof. The MP's eyes widened at the sight of the hole in the roof, and then bulged even more as he noticed a massive suit of armor standing in the compartment. "Wh-what…" he stuttered. He suddenly remembered that the mass murderer they were trying to catch had been armored. "Ah! You're trying to escape, are you?" He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Al.

"You idiot, how in the world could Al fit through that hole?" the MP heard someone ask in exasperation.

The MP's eye twitched. It was that same tone that Huang used. He had had enough of being looked down upon as if he was some sort of toddler for today. "Who said that?" he questioned roughly.

"That would be me." The MP looked down to see a short boy with his long blond hair in a braid. He was in a bright red coat and was missing an arm.

Even more suspicious… the boy didn't have an arm. His eyes traveled to the other passenger. In stark contrast to the suspect pair in front of him, was an innocent looking blond girl with big blue eyes. The armored murderer must have stolen her away, and was planning to chop her up later! Just like the other girls!

"You monsters!" the MP growled. "Let the poor girl go!"

"Uh…" the short boy said, who was still, infuriatingly enough, looking at him like he was messed up in the head. "I think you're misunderstanding something…"

"No! There's no mistake! The killer we're looking for is an armored man wielding a butcher's knife! He's already killed several young girls already."

"Barry the Chopper!" the armored man gasped suddenly. His voice was much higher than the MP was expecting. It was almost childlike. "Barry the Chopper killed those people?"

The boy turned to look at the armored man. "What are you talking about Al?"

"Barry the Chopper! That's the guy I fought at Lab Five!" the armor paused and looked down. "I couldn't stop him from escaping. He murdered those people… because I didn't stop him." The voice emanating from the armor seemed sincerely regretful—and nearly tearful. The MP shifted uneasily at the sound. He didn't like hearing children cry. _But_, he reminded himself, _That's no child._ _Even if he sounds like one, he's a mass murderer!_

"It's not your fault Al!" the blond boy said emphatically. The blue-eyed girl beside him gazed at the armor worriedly. "You tried to stop him. That's all you could've done."

The MP shook himself. What was he doing listening to their conversation? He was supposed to be arresting them. "Stop talking and put your hands behind your head! You're under arrest for mass murder and—"

"Don't you know when to shut up, old man? How could Al be the murderer? We're coming _back_ to Central, not leaving it," the boy said in a hard voice. He turned around and glared at him.

"W-what?" the MP stuttered in surprise. The boy was still resisting! "Who do you think you are, you little—"

He was cut short by a sudden punch to the gut. The MP collapsed to the ground.

"I'm not little!" yelled the boy. The armored man sighed in exasperation and covered the eyeholes in his helmet with his hand. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver watch. The MP's eyes widened as he looked up from the floor and saw what was inscribed on it. "And for your information, I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist!"


	6. Suspicion and Secrets

A/N: I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm not profiting at all from this.

A Huang-centric chapter! I like Huang, he's one of my favorite DtB characters outside of Yin, Hei, Mao, November 11… well, actually, I like pretty much all the DtB characters. :P

Also, I think I'm going to be updating just once a week for a while so I don't get too far ahead of what I've already written. You can expect updates around the end of the week.

* * *

If Huang had been irritated at the rookies before, now he was furious. One of the cops had actually turned a gun on the Fullmetal Alchemist. If the famous alchemist pressed charges, his office would be living hell for weeks. "How _stupid_ can you get?" Huang yelled at the man, who was now cowering before him. "You can't even do a simple search! Go back to HQ and have them assign you something to do. I'm through with you for now." The man nodded ashamedly, and headed out of the train station in a slump.

Huang sighed tiredly and rubbed the bridge of his nose. How was the day not over already? It seemed to dragging on longer and longer as time went by.

"Um…" said the armored man the cop had tried to shoot. He, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and a girl were standing off to the side a couple of feet away. "Was that man right in saying that the murderer was an armored man carrying a butcher knife?"

"Huh…?" asked Huang distractedly. "Oh. Yeah, he was. They were pretty nasty murders too; every victim was chopped into pieces."

"Chopped into pieces?" the armored man repeated. His voice turned grim. "That's him alright."

Huang froze. "Wait…" He turned to face the armored man fully. "Do you know who committed the murders?"

"I have a good idea," the voice emanating from the armor said. "Not long ago, I fought an armor—an armored man—matching that police officer's description. He…" the armor looked down with a clanking noise. "He managed to chop someone up during our fight too. So I bet it's him."

Huang exhaled slowly. This was perfect. Just the lead he needed to help solve the case. "Tell me all you know about this guy."

"Al," the Fullmetal Alchemist interjected in a warning tone, and then looked at Huang seriously. "How much are you willing to risk to get some intel about this guy? Do you have any family?"

Huang took in his grave expression and sighed. "Nope. Not anymore." Yesterday he might have considered saying yes; he had spent so much time with Isozaki and his wife that they seemed like family. So much could change in just one day. "And if it's that dangerous, maybe it's a good thing that idiot didn't understand what you were talking about…" Huang dragged his hand across his face. "I don't have anything to lose. You can tell me whatever you need to, and I'll tell my superiors—"

"That wouldn't be a good idea," interrupted the boy.

"What?" asked Huang, a little incredulous. "Why?"

"Not here," hissed the boy. "Come on." He started marching off towards a more secluded corner of the station, then stopped and called over his shoulder, "Winry, I think maybe you should go ahead and get us some hotel rooms. Take this," he said, tossing his watch at her with his only hand. "And tell them that you're reserving two rooms for the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Winry glowered at him. "Trying to keep me in the dark again?"

"Winry," said the armored man this time in a firm voice. "You really don't need to hear this."

She glared at them for another moment, but consented with ill grace when they didn't waver. "Fine," she sulked. "Maybe I'll go around Mr. Hughes house later and ask his neighbors when he's coming back. That way I can come back when he's here next time."

Al nodded at her. "Good idea."

"Of course it is," she muttered. "You two _always_ think that hiding stuff from me is a great idea."

With an annoyed toss of her hair over her shoulder, she stomped off.

Huang stared after her, his face screwed up in thought. He was sure that he had heard the name Hughes before, but he wasn't sure where…

"Hey!" said Ed in irritation to Huang. "Are you going to stand there all day, or are you coming?"

Huang resisted the impulse to make a snap back at the alchemist. This kid was irritating him, and today of all days he was not in the mood to put up with rudeness. "I'm coming." _Brat, _he silently added on.

"Good," the alchemist replied shortly and stomped off.

"I'm sorry about my brother," sighed Al, the armored man. "He's… just like that sometimes."

Huang took a deep, slow breath before replying gruffly, "'Snot your fault. You don't have to apologize for him." They followed the blond alchemist until they reached the shadowed spot away from the crowd of people.

"So?" asked Huang with a displeased frown. "Why can't I tell my superiors?"

"We can't tell you that," said Ed firmly. His face slid into a scowl and he crossed his arms to emphasize his point. "I heard from Al all about this guy before we got off the train, and I'm telling you right now—we won't go into the politics of the situation at all. We'll just give you the basic info we can tell you, and we'll be on our way."

Huang sighed. He'd heard speeches along that line before. "So you were either bribed or ordered to keep quiet about this, huh?"

Ed twitched.

Huang scratched the back of his head. "Nothing new coming from the military. I was just hoping for something more from the famous Fullmetal Alchemist." Maybe a bit of goading would get him angry enough to loosen his tongue.

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but Al held out his arm in front of Ed to stop him. "It's okay, Ed," he told him quietly. Turning to Huang, he said, "I'm sorry that we can't help you on that account, but we'll give you as much information as we can."

He would take what he could get, especially if it was coming from the far more civil Elric brother in the armor and not the short kid. "Fair enough." Huang pulled out a notebook and pen from his uniform's breast pocket.

The sound of someone taking a deep breath echoed out of the armor. "I met that armored mass murderer when we were… um… well, never mind that. Anyway, he attacked me with two huge butcher knives. And he bragged that he was the famous mass murderer Barry the Chopper."

Huangs eyes widened, but he stayed quiet, his pen scrabbling furiously across the paper.

"Another guard came up to him and told him to put his hands in the air. But—Barry chopped him up before I could stop him." Al paused for a second. "Then…something…er… happened…and he ran away. I was worried because Ed was hurt, so I didn't really think about it till later. Um… that's all."

Huang stared at the little notebook in which he was jotting down what the armored man was saying. There were only two lines of notes. He raised his eyebrows at the suit of armor. "Do you realize how vague that is?"

Al's head lowered a little. "I'm sorry."

"Never mind," Huang grumbled in frustration. "I'm going to ask some questions, answer them if you can."

"Okay."

"Can you tell me where you were when this happened?"

"No."

"What hurt Fullmetal?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you."

"Was the guard part of the Military Police?"

Al hesitated, then nodded. "I think so…"

"You don't have to tell me how you know, but… do you believe that armored man is Barry the Chopper, despite the fact that he was supposed to have been hanged a long time ago?"

Al looked away, and replied quietly, "I'm almost positive."

Huang contemplated the armored man for a moment. It really was troublesome not being able to see his facial expressions… it would help him ascertain if he was lying or not. But… he did seem to be telling the truth judging from his voice. Huang scruffed up the back of his hair again in frustration.

"Gaah… the higher ups pulled a Mustang, huh?"

"A… Mustang?" asked the young blond alchemist, speaking up again.

Huang's expression darkened, but he said in a forcibly calm voice. "I'm sure you haven't heard since you just came back to the city, but a notorious killer mysteriously disappeared yesterday, and all signs point to Mustang having helped him." Huang gritted his teeth and spat out the next sentence bitterly. "But of course, no lowly MP is allowed to question the actions of a high-ranking officer."He had tried to do just that this morning to one of his superiors. The speed in which he had been brushed off had to be a record.

"Hmm…" Ed murmured.

Huang could hear the hint of skepticism in the sound. "I know what you're probably thinking. I had heard Mustang was a decent guy and I believed it for the longest time," admitted Huang grudgingly, loath to admit any respectable qualities to his enemy. "I know veterans from Ishbal that do nothing but praise him, saying that he always looked out for his subordinates no matter what. But once your best friend is murdered, I guess it's too easy to lose sight of your morals…" His voice trailed off. _No matter what happened to Isozaki, I'll never go down Mustang's path,_ He assured himself, albeit a bit shakily. _I'll do whatever I can to keep being a good cop_.

Ed's eyes widened. "Wait—his best friend? When did he lose his best friend?"

"I read about it just this morning. He lost him just before he transferred to Central… What was his name… Hughes something or another?" Ah, that's where he had heard Hughes before.

"Hughes… is dead?" repeated Al in a choked voice as the blond boy stared at Huang, a look of horror growing on his face.

* * *

Huang sighed and scratched the back of his head as he flipped through old police reports about Barry the Chopper. It was the best lead he had at the moment, but once again, he was having trouble concentrating. He kept reviewing in his head how appalled that pair at the train station had been once he had told them about Hughes before they had run off. _Damn it. I should have remembered. That girl mentioned a Hughes. I shouldn't have… they shouldn't have found out that way. _Finding out about a friend's death when he was mentioned so flippantly… that had to be terrible. Although he knew perfectly well by this point there were worse ways to lose a friend…

"Gaah…" he said, putting his head in his hands as he slumped down into the chair of the desk at which he was working. He should be able to keep working, just like he had every other time he had lost a partner. Right? So why wasn't he able to forget that terrible, empty look in Isozaki's eyes as he gazed blindly up at him from the ground?

_No. Don't think about that._

How long before he could leave work and try his best to get drunk? He looked at the clock ticking on the wall opposite him. The back and forth motion of the pendulum reminded him of the way Isozaki's wife had rocked back and forth on the hospital floor, a crazed look in her eyes. He had been the one to drop her off at the hospital before he left for the bar, and he knew from that short journey that she had one of the worst cases of shock he had ever seen. She hadn't even seemed to recognize him.

"No!" he told himself loudly, tearing his eyes off the clock. The sound quickly stifled in the empty room with no one to hear it except himself. Usually, he and Isozaki would be here looking up cases together, but now…

"Stop it!" he commanded himself and put his head in his hands. His voice cracked a little. "Stop!" Everything today seemed to be conspiring against him, reminding him at every turn that Isozaki was dead, that he would never see him again. He couldn't bring himself to focus.

He had to try anyways though.

He lifted his head and gazed blearily at the documents in front of them. Focus. Every one of them stated that Barry the Chopper had been hanged years ago… but if that was fake, then why? Barry the Chopper seemed to be a ruthless criminal, one of the types who just killed for the sake of killing. Why would the government fake the death of someone so hard to control? And why would Barry the Chopper just start rampaging now of all times?

Huang sighed and got up. He wasn't concentrating well enough to do anything useful here. Field work might be able to get his blood moving and his mind off of…what had happened. _Sometimes ignorance really is bliss_.

Maybe he would see if he could inspect the prison and all the government institutions surrounding it. If he could find out more about Barry the Chopper, he was sure that he would clues about where Barry was hiding, and more importantly, that he would find out who had let this vicious criminal off the hook.

He picked up a map of Central, walked out of the records room and down the hall, took a swig from his hip flask full of liquor (he let himself bring it just this once, to get him through the day), and headed down to his boss's office.

"Hmm… the closest government building to the prison is Lab Number Five," he muttered as he wiped the alcohol that had dribbled out of the corner of his mouth. "I'll ask for permission to go to those two today, and see what happens afterwards."

He paused in front of his superior's office to finish wiping his mouth, and then knocked on the door.

"Come in," said the voice.

Huang stepped in and saluted smartly. "Colonel Douglas, sir!"

"At ease Huang," the stern commander of the Military Police said. "What is it? Something to do with these murders?"

"Yessir. I have reason to believe that Central Prison and Laboratory Number Five may have something to do with these recent murders. I would like permission to inspect them."

Colonel Douglas's frown deepened and he interlinked his hands in front of him. "Do you realize what you are insinuating, Huang? Those are both military facilities."

Huang hesitated for a moment, warning bells going off in his head. Something wasn't right. "Yes sir, I think I do."

Colonel Douglas stared at him for another moment and then sighed deeply. "Follow me, Huang."

"Sir?" asked Huang, a bit nervous despite himself. He had assumed, wrongly apparently, that a simple inspection request wouldn't be suspicious. He could only hope he could trust Colonel Douglas.

"I don't have the authority to get you into Lab Five. Come with me. We're going to Military Headquarters."

_Headquarters? As in, where the Fuhrer is? _Something was definitely off. But… What could he do? If he tried to run, he could easily be shot down by all the guards in front of the Colonel's door.

Huang nodded. "Yes…sir."


	7. Memories and Trust

A/N: I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist.

If the explanation about Contractors is confusing or doesn't answer all of your questions, good. :) It'll be elaborated on later.

* * *

Hei's vision swam as he tried to deal with the pulsing pain of the neat bullet hole in his foot. He had been able to shift away in time so that he didn't get the bullet directly in the middle of his foot, but there was still an almost circular hole through the outer edge of his foot. It was bleeding badly, and it was all he could do to rip part of his shirt off to start to make a bandage. He gritted his teeth, trying to block out the nauseating pain.

He heard some footsteps, and saw that Yin had walked over to him. "Hei." She hesitated. "Are…you alright."

Hei nodded, but the motion was too much for his stomach and he bent over to the side and vomited. Yin didn't flinch. She gingerly picked up a shard of glass from the broken lantern and, kneeling down, started sawing at the rest of the ropes on his feet. After a minute or two, the ropes were frayed enough that Hei removed them himself, albeit very slowly. Yin stared into space for a moment, and then gently took the strip of cloth from his hands and started tying it around his injured foot. Hei closed his eyes tightly, and his fingers scrabbled at the floor in a vain attempt to get rid some of the pain.

"Done," he heard Yin say. He nodded weakly and lay back.

"Sorry, Yin, but can you keep watch… till I wake up?" Hei asked tiredly.

He didn't hear her response; he was already falling into unconsciousness. Before long, he could feel a happy memory swim to the surface of his subconscious in the form of a dream. It was the only time he had seen Yin as a normal human.

* * *

_In the corner of a stone cell with old-fashioned iron bars sat a girl about ten years old. She had long silver hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, but the dress she was wearing seemed fairly new—the girl was probably from an upper-class family. However, her status did not appear to be doing much for the girl; she was hunched over, hugging her knees drawn to her chest, and was shaking with quiet sobs. She was all alone in the tiny cell, which seemed to have been designed to save as much space as possible. All that was in the room was a thin pile of blankets that was simultaneously her bed and covers, and a short chamber pot in the corner opposite the girl. The air was rank with the smell of the girl's excretions—the prison guards hadn't come yet to change the filthy chamber pot. The tiny cell was freezing, but the girl seemed to be shaking as much from fear as from cold. _

_The girl was trying desperately to quit her crying since she had heard the footsteps of the person now watching her. She seemed under the impression that, whoever it was, was going to hurt her._

_Instead, the person scrutinizing her asked, "What's your name?" in the soft voice of a boy of about fifteen years old._

"_Kirsi," blubbered the silver-haired girl._

"_Is it really?" asked the boy skeptically._

"_Well… they told me that my name is Yin now. But it's not my name!" she suddenly shouted defiantly. The effect was ruined by a sudden hiccup. "They can't just change it! They can't!"_

"_You better just listen to them," advised the boy. His voice had a hint of sadness in it. "These people can do terrible things to you. You don't want to annoy them any more than necessary."_

"_Hmph," pouted the girl. She stopped hugging her legs in order to cross her arms rebelliously. Although there were still tear tracks on her cheeks, she had stopped crying. "Sounds like you've already given up—uh… whatever your name is," she finished somewhat lamely._

"_Hei," the boy supplied. _

"_Hei," the girl repeated. She cocked her head, and tried to glare at the direction the voice was coming from. "Is that even your real name?"_

"_I can't remember what my real name was anymore. But it doesn't matter either way. They control everything. Including our names. Remember that if you want to live, Yin." Hei started walking away from her cell._

"_It's Kirsi!" she bellowed after him. Hei paused for a second and smiled to himself before slamming the door shut behind him._

The dream changed.

_ It was several years later out in a desert. Standing outside an adobe house, Hei appeared considerably more worn out than he had many years ago in front of Yin's cell. He was also covered in blood that was not his own. Swaying on his feet, he stumbled into the house and collapsed as soon as he reached a couch, his arm slung over his face. He was exhausted, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep well tonight. Just like every other night. He couldn't forget the terrified faces of the people he had murdered._

_Hei couldn't stop shaking. How was he any better than Envy? He wasn't. He was much worse. Envy at least had the excuse of being a homunculus. What excuse did he, a human, have to kill off people like they meant nothing? Even his sister had the excuse of not being fully human anymore…_

_Maybe he really should just leave. His sister, Bai, would probably be fine on her own, especially after what the researchers had done to her. She could take out entire towns on her own given the right conditions. _But, _he thought to himself, _you know she's vulnerable after doing that. They could easily kill her if you're not there. And if you don't follow them, then you won't be able to protect her…_ Although Bai was useful to them, she was still dispensable. Just one more person to add to the blood-soaked earth here. Not to mention he wouldn't get far if he left—he might be able to survive a year at most, but he would constantly be hunted down by the military until he finally collapsed._

_He knew he would stay. But that didn't mean he hated himself any less for his decision._

_Hei heard the door open, but he didn't have the energy to lift his head to see who it was. _

"_Big Brother," said Bai's voice. It was emotionless. Just as it had always been after the researchers had changed her. "They recovered Yin from the patrol. She was the only one left; the Ishbalans took out everyone else."_

_Hei managed to move his arm slightly to look at Yin, whose dress was also soaked in blood. Unlike him, she wasn't shaking at all, but kept staring ahead with her stoic expression set in stone on her face. If he hadn't known that she was always like this, he would have guessed she was in shock. He moved his arm back to cover his face._

"_I see. The Ishbalans have the decency not to kill innocent people. Unlike us."_

_Bai gazed intently at him. "Big Brother, did you have a target today?"_

"_Yes."_

"_I see," Bai replied giving him another inscrutable look. "I haven't had one since that village last week."_

_Hei tried to hide his shiver at her matter-of-fact tone. That had been terrible, possibly the worst one so far._

"_Big Brother, why do you hate killing?"_

"_I don't," he replied quite convincingly. "If I did, why would I kill so many people?"_

"_Then why are you so sad?" she asked in her bland voice, tilting her head in curiosity._

"_I'm not—" he began, but stopped short when his voice cracked. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."_

_Bai glanced at him one more time before shrugging. "Okay. I'm going to clean the blood off of me. Stay with Big Brother, Yin."_

_Yin nodded passively, and she went over to sit gingerly by Hei on the now blood-stained couch. She still stared straight ahead, but surprisingly, she talked without being spoken to. _

"_Hei."_

"_What is it?" Hei muttered, trying to compose himself._

"_What's it like to feel sad."_

_Hei stopped what he was doing and stared at her from under his arm. "Why do you ask?"_

"_I don't remember. I remember crying. But I don't remember what it feels like. I want to remember."_

_It was possibly the longest speech he had heard out of Yin at that point. "It's impossible for you," remarked Hei bitterly. "It's just something humans can feel. Since the researchers made it so Dolls like you can't feel." _And since they made it so Contractors like Bai can't act on any feelings they _do_ manage to have_, he added in his head. _No irrationalities. Bai can't cry either.

_Yin didn't speak for several minutes. Then, in a halting voice, she said, "My piano teacher told me… that if you play a song with an emotion in mind… then you will feel… that emotion." She stopped staring at the wall opposite of her to momentarily sweep the room with her blind eyes as if subconsciously searching for a piano._

_Hei watched her with a slightly confused expression on his face._

"_Why do you want to feel emotions?" Hei asked her. He was intrigued despite himself at Yin's strange behavior. "You've been through… a lot…same as the rest of us. Why would you want to feel sad about it? Isn't it easier not being able to feel?" _

_Yin paused and turned her head towards Hei, her unfeeling, unseeing eyes seemed to bore into him. "I think it's…sad… that I can't be sad."

* * *

_

Huang waited nervously outside the office that Colonel Douglas had brought him to. His previous depression was quickly being overrun by fear. _It must be a huge big-wig,_ he thought to himself as he glanced at the dozen or so body-guards at the door. This was bad. Very bad. If he had had a slight chance of escaping at the Military Police Headquarters, he now had practically none. He wasn't one to second-guess himself, but he really should have run when he had the chance.

Huang stared outside the window. It had started pouring soon after they had entered Military Headquarters. Maybe if he found a way to escape, the rain would make it harder for any snipers to see him…

The door opened, and Colonel Douglas came out of the room. And uncharacteristically smiled at Huang. Huang stared at him. The Colonel had _smiled_? That had hardly ever happened the entire twenty years he had worked under him!

"Don't look so worried, Huang. The Fuhrer just wants to talk to you."

_The Fuhrer?_

Huang was definitely scared now, though he refused to show it. The Colonel was smiling… like he was at a death bed. Or saying good-bye.

Huang took a shaky breath. "Yes… sir." He walked into the room slowly.

The Fuhrer was looking out the window when Huang came in and saluted him. The Fuhrer turned around and smiled genially at him.

"Sit down, sit down," he said. He sounded and looked like a kind old grandfather, but Huang didn't lower his guard. Everyone wore a mask of some kind, and most of the criminals he knew were especially adept at hiding their true nature. And by this point he had learned to equate his superiors in the military with criminals. He remained standing. Huang had learned long ago not to trust anyone.

_Then why did you trust Colonel Douglas not to turn you in? _A small part of him asked. He shook it off. The Fuhrer was speaking; he needed to pay attention.

"… so don't worry," the Fuhrer was saying. "I just want to know why you would suspect Laboratory Number Five of any wrong-doing. I'm simply trying to root out all the corruption that has no place in our great country."

"I… just…" he cast about wildly in his mind for an excuse that made any sense. He couldn't come up with anything.

"Let me put it this way," said the Fuhrer, dropping his friendly-grandpa mask that Huang had suspected he had been wearing. He now looked quite menacing. "If you do not tell me, I _will_ have you shot immediately."

Huang scruffed up the little hair he had in frustration. No choice then. He might as well take his chances. "I have reason to believe that the armored murderer is Barry the Chopper."

The Fuhrer's eyes narrowed. "Barry the Chopper is dead."

Huang hesitated. "Yes sir. That's what the records say."

"Is that so." He paused for a moment. "You are too curious for your own good, Mr. Huang." He looked to the guards at the door, and all of them filed out except for one. The one remaining had a huge, maniacal smile on his face.

Well, shit. That hadn't been the right thing to say.

"Why, heeellooo, Mr. Police Officer," sang the guard as he approached. Huang could feel sweat trickle down his neck. "You really don't know how to keep your mouth shut do you? And I guess those stupid Elric brothers don't know how to either, they just _had_ to go blabbing about Lab Five. All you worms, you try so desperately to save each other, that you're willing to risk everything. It's so pathetic!"

Huang glared at him. The guard smirked. "What, you don't agree with me? But…" the man drawled, a smile creeping into his voice. "What if I were to tell you that everything you ever risked your life for was a lie? What would happen then?"

"What are you talking about?" Huang demanded.

"Isozaki, your poor, dead fiancée… they all worked for us."

Huang smirked a little to conceal the pain he had felt at the mention of the two people he had cared about most, and shook his head without saying a word.

The guard just laughed. "Really? So you're sure that Isozaki never acted…say… out of the ordinary for a rookie cop? Why would he choose you, the most crotchety and untrusting old geezer in your entire department? You know that all the other rookies did everything they possibly could do avoid getting you, right?" The guard's grin widened when he saw Huang flinch a little. "Didn't he ever seem like he didn't mind people getting hurt to catch a criminal? That's what he was like in real life. He didn't care about anyone but himself."

"You're lying," stated Huang gruffly. But some of Isozaki's final words before he was stabbed came out of nowhere. _He'll do whatever we want if that girl is in trouble._ Isozaki had said that hadn't he? Huang hadn't ever heard from any of his superiors that that was the reason why they were catching the girl. He had been told that the girl was a criminal as well.

"And your fiancée," continued the guard. "Shihoko or whatever her name was. She committed suicide a while ago. Do you know why?"

Huang paled. "Don't say another word."

"Shihoko knew that one day she would have to kill you. I suppose she got a little too attached to you in the process of getting information out of you. But still…" the guard drawled. "Did you honestly believe that something in _you_ made your fiancée and Isozaki want to befriend you? They were just following orders."

Huang had gone as white as a sheet. "Shut it," he said roughly.

"Ah… what a nice expression," the guard said, closing his eyes happily.

Huang shook himself and shoved all the doubts now plaguing him to the back of his mind. He had to focus. After several years of dealing with people close to him dying, he had grown used to bottling up emotions. He would deal with the implications of what the guard had said later. "That doesn't make any sense anyway. What information would you want out of me?"

"You're one of the most… suspicious… cops we have in Central. It was quite possible that you would find out too much."

"About what?" Huang asked quickly. He let himself fall into his 'interrogation mode'; it helped him focus only on shooting out questions and remembering the answers. Nothing else. Especially not memories of dead friends and lovers.

"Various things. Our manufacturing Philosopher's stones using prisoners' souls, attaching convicts' souls to suits of armors—" Huang's eyes widened. "—and most of all, our project on researching the Gate."

"What Gate? What are you doing with it?"

"Envy," warned the Fuhrer from where he was now sitting behind his desk.

"Aww, let me play with this one a little more, Wrath," whined the guard. When the Fuhrer didn't respond, the guard named Envy turned back to Huang with a smirk. "If you expose someone to the entire Gate they learn the Truth about all alchemy. However, Equivalent Exchange demands a payment from them in return. Usually a limb or something similar. Quite inconvenient," Envy sighed with a dramatic flourish of his hands.

"Plus, only a select few can open the Gate all the way. So we've been attempting _partially_ opening the Gate and exposing some brats to that. These kids brought to the Gate, or Contractors, as we call them, don't lose a limb, and they gain quite a bit of alchemical knowledge about one field of alchemy."

Huang's eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. "What's the point in that? And…what about the Equivalent Exchange?" He knew that much about alchemy at least. You couldn't gain anything without losing something.

Envy started laughing hysterically. When his laughter was finally reduced to chuckling, he wiped the tears from his eyes, and giggled. "That's the best part! Instead of a body part, the Equivalent Exchange with the Gate is that the brats lose their ability to be irrational. So rationally, since the only way for these Contractors to stay alive is to follow our orders, they do what we want without question. They're the perfect, emotionless, killing machines. They've wiped out entire towns with their alchemy without a second thought!

"There's more though," he snickered. "Losing their irrationality wasn't enough to pay off their debt to the Gate. They're completely reliant on us to protect them, because every time after they use alchemy without a circle, they have to make some sort of payment to the Gate!"

Huang stared at him, brow still furrowed, and tried to sort out all the information he had just received. They had made Contractors out of bringing kids to a part of this Gate… and had made them perfect killing machines? Huang ground his teeth, his face contorting in response to the anger that had flared inside him. Experimenting on kids… that was the worst crime possible in his book.

"What sort of payment?" he spat out.

Envy just cackled and ignored the question. "And you know what else? That guy who killed Isozaki? He was a Contractor," continued Envy happily.

Huang froze. He was immediately brought out of his 'interrogation mode' by the mention of Isozaki's murder. "Did you…send him to kill Isozaki?"

"I wish," Envy sighed. "That guy was one of the few that has managed to elude us for a couple of years now. Him and that girl. That Contractor probably knew that Isozaki wasn't a normal cop after hearing his name. Isozaki isn't exactly a common name. Or maybe he just killed him just because. You never know with a Contractor." Envy touched a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "He was a strange one. He only became a Contractor a couple of years ago, and we have no idea how. We didn't change him into one. But he's slowly been killing off everyone remotely related to the Gate project."

Huang's eyes narrowed and his hands clenched into shaking fists. "Isozaki had nothing to do with this Gate. Don't try to justify what that monster did," he told Envy coldly.

Envy stared at him a second with a strange expression. Then, his face shifted to a nonchalant look, and he said sarcastically, "Friends until the end, huh? You humans make me sick."

Huang just gazed levelly at him and started reaching slowly for his gun.

Envy turned his head to call over to the Fuhrer. "Okay, I'm through with him, Wrath."

The Fuhrer didn't move. "Can you not handle him by yourself Envy? Do you really need me to dispose of him?"

Envy turned the rest of the way to yell something at the Fuhrer, but he was stopped by the bullet that had penetrated through his skull. Envy fell with a thud to the floor. Huang stood behind him with a still-smoking gun in his hand aimed now at the Fuhrer.

"Don't think I'm just going to let you kill me that easily," growled Huang. "I'm not one to go down without a fight."

The Fuhrer didn't react at all to this statement except to sigh again. "Really, human, your struggles are so pointless."

"Why are you two always calling me human?" demanded Huang in a hard voice. "It's not like you're…not…" Huang's eyes widened as he realized something was behind him and he whipped around to come face-to-face with Envy, who had a shower of red sparks emanating from where a bullet had just entered his brain.

"It's not like we're not human?" quoted Envy with another maniacal grin that seemed much creepier with the light from the dancing sparks creating shadows flitting across his face. "How wrong you are, Mr. Policeman."

"What…?" exclaimed Huang. What the heck was going on?

Huang's eyes suddenly widened as he felt something hit him from behind. He felt something dribble out of his mouth; when he reached up to wipe it off with his hand, he saw it was red. Blood. Looking down, he saw a sword protruding from his stomach. With a wet cough, blood spattered everywhere on the carpet, dyeing it crimson. He didn't remember falling down, but suddenly he was on the ground, drowning in his own blood.

"Aww man," complained Envy. "What a mess."

His vision faded. But he could faintly hear what the Fuhrer, holding a bloody sword, said before everything went dark.

"Get Gluttony to clean it up. I'm going after the Elric brothers."

_…I failed. I put those brothers in danger. I couldn't do anything, _Huang thought to himself as he struggled with his last breaths. _Sorry. I'm sorry._

His vision faded into a blinding, empty whiteness. He couldn't see anything, but he thought he saw some inconsistency in the brilliant light, just out of reach. He reached for it. Was it… a person?

And then he was gone.


	8. Everyone's Situation

A/N: I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

_Hei hadn't been able to visit the Kirsi's—no, Yin's—cell again until a couple of months after he first visited it. And when he did, he almost passed by her cell. She was unrecognizable. Instead of the fiery glare he had received multiple times during their short conversation, the girl was staring at the wall blankly, not bothering to turn her head when she heard footsteps coming her way._

"_What…" Hei began, but he stopped. He knew the answer. The researchers had conducted another experiment. And Yin, just like Bai and so many others, was now a victim._

_But this girl looked different from the results of the previous experiment. Instead of just seeming emotionless, this girl could pass for a sitting cadaver. She didn't move at all when Hei rattled the bars. She couldn't see him from her position, so how could she assume that she wasn't in danger? Not looking wasn't rational… had they not turned her into a Contractor, like Bai?_

"_Ah, Hei. I see you've found one of the results of our latest experiment!" said an enthusiastic voice behind him. Hei stiffened. He wasn't supposed to be back here._

"_Oh, don't worry," said the voice. Hei turned to see that the man speaking was Dr. Schroeder, the head of the entire research team. "I'm not going to turn you in! I'm always eager to show off my research to anyone! And since you're one of the few true humans left in this facility to appreciate my work…" Dr. Schroeder shrugged. "I'll just brag to you!"_

_Hei had a hard time suppressing his disgust as he nodded pleasantly to Dr. Schroeder. None of the scientists considered the results of their experiments human anymore._

"_This girl is similar to the Contractors we made, such as your sister," Dr. Schroeder explained excitedly. "As you know, Contractors were created through Gate research. By exposing young children to carefully selected portions of the Gate, we were able to make human weapons that knew extremely advanced forms of alchemy. That's the difference between Contractors and humans who see the entire Gate. The latter pay a great price, such as a body part, but then they are finished with their payment, even when they do alchemy without a transmutation circle. Because Contractors don't lose as much to the Gate, they always have to make a payment of sorts after using their powers. _

"_Which is why…" Dr. Schroeder said, glancing to Yin, "we decided that it would be beneficial to try to make a new version of Contractors. A type that still sees the desired portion of the Gate and just makes one permanent payment without having to worry about those pesky payments every time they use alchemy."_

_Hei stared wordlessly at the man for a moment before he remembered how to use his vocal chords."…What?" he managed to choke out. He glanced at the girl who was still staring motionlessly at the wall. "But that means… how much would you have to pay to the Gate for that?"_

"_Don't look like that," pouted the researcher. "We did everything possible to minimize the price. The researcher that used the philosopher's stone to open the small portion of the Gate we needed was even completely consumed in creating these new Contractors! But it wasn't enough. Something was off in our calculations, I suppose…" Dr. Schroeder mused, tapping his chin with a finger thoughtfully._

"_How much did they have to pay?" He was still looking at Yin, he couldn't bring himself to look at the scientist at the moment. Anger was already welling up inside him, and there was no telling what would happen to him and Bai if he ended up attacking Dr. Schroeder.  
_

_The scientist sighed. "Too much to ever be useful on solo missions. They gained the ability to split their soul and transport part of it through a certain medium. This girl, for example," he said looking at Yin. "If she's touching water, she can send part of her soul into any relatively still water within a couple miles. She can even see with her soul! It's very useful for spying. No one except people who have been exposed to the Gate can even see her soul in the water."_

"_What. Was. The. Price," repeated Hei through gritted teeth._

"_Fine, fine," consented the researcher, raising his hand to muss up his own hair in agitation. "These second generation Contractors don't have to "pay" the Gate anything after they use their powers. But unfortunately, they've permanently lost all their free will because of this. They can't do anything at all by themselves—they're not even toilet-trained anymore—and they have to be ordered around to accomplish anything. They don't seem to be able to feel any emotions at all either…At least the Contractors we made still experienced some healthy, if limited, emotions, even if they can't act on them…" he sighed dramatically. "We've decided to call them Dolls, since they're nothing like Contractors. They're just hollow shells of what they used to be. They're being regarded as complete failures._

"_But they're not!" Dr. Schroeder suddenly exclaimed enthusiastically. "There's no such thing as failure in research! We learn from each mistake! Someday we'll make the perfect Contractor!" The scientist stopped in surprise as the sound of footsteps suddenly punctuated his speech. "Huh? Where are you going?"_

_Hei had started walking away, and he didn't bother to answer Dr. Schroeder. _

_"Hey! I thought you were interested in my research! You might as well listen to the rest of the story, right?"_

_Hei stopped and took a moment to steel himself, to make sure he wouldn't lose control and attack this man. "No," he replied icily to the scientist. He started walking off again, and this time only the sound of his own footsteps accompanied him._

_He wandered aimlessly for a while, turning down random halls without noticing what he was doing. Eventually, he ended up at his room. He stared at the door as if surprised that he had arrived there, but then he entered and shut the door quietly. Suddenly, he smashed his fist into the stone wall. _

"_Damn it!" he bellowed._

_Blood trickled down the wall. "Damn it…"

* * *

_

"Hei."

"Hei!"

Hei blearily opened his eyes and immediately regretted it. His foot was still throbbing painfully. He gritted his teeth. "Yin?"

Yin was kneeling besides him. "Some people are coming."

Hei took a slow breath, trying to focus. "How… how could you tell? I thought you said there wasn't any standing water nearby?" That had been one of the first things he had asked her when he had gotten the chance. Although the woman Lieutenant had been very attentive, he had been able to whisper the question to Yin when one of the others was guarding him.

"It's raining."

Hei nodded slowly to show his understanding. Quite a bit of water had leaked inside the shack, and he could see one of her bare feet touching the puddle. Outside the window the watery, amorphous form of the portion of Yin's soul that was acting as Yin's eyes watched vigilantly.

"Can you see who they are?"

"No. It's too dark."

"Yin—you need to get out of here."

Yin slowly turned her head to stare at him directly. She didn't move.

"Go!" growled Hei.

Yin lowered her head to stare at the floor. "No," she said apathetically.

Hei's astonishment surpassed his pain momentarily. Yin… wasn't obeying orders? The compulsion to obey orders was how Dolls like her had been "programmed" since their encounter with the Gate. Dolls obeyed whatever orders they could, even though they couldn't do much on their own except send out part of their soul to spy on others. Yin had certainly been evolving away from the norm for Dolls, but not obeying direct orders when she was perfectly capable of doing so…

Hei closed his eyes. This was no time to sit around. "Please, Yin. Go."

Yin shook her head slowly at the ground. "No."

Hei glared at her in frustration, but as he heard the wood door creak open behind him in the adjacent room, he slowly pushed himself up so that he could face the door that the intruders would enter. Yin, however, quickly stood up and held out a hand to him. Hei paused in bewilderment again at her thoughtful action (how was it possible?) but accepted the help. By the time the door handle to their room was turning, he was on his feet—or rather, he was standing on his good foot and leaning more heavily than he would like on Yin, who made sure to keep one of her feet in the puddle.

The door flew open with a loud bang, and moldy pieces of wood flew from the wall it slammed into. A figure moved just outside the room, and Hei tensed, the adrenaline in his blood preparing him for action.

A Xingese teenager stuck his head into the room. "Heeelllooooo? Anyone there?"

That was unexpected. _Only a kid?_

The Xingese boy noticed Hei and Yin, and gave them a big, goofy grin. "Ah, there you are!"

_I don't know this kid. How'd he find us?_

"Who are you?" Hei demanded.

"Ling, Ling Yao—" began the boy before he was interrupted.

"Master! Please don't enter such dangerous situations without us!" pleaded a female voice from behind him.

"She's right, young prince," said another voice from behind the teenager. "It is foolish for you to keep running off as you do!"

"Awww… Lan Fan, Fuu…" pouted the teenager. "I would've gotten ahold of you later anyways." The guard who had spoken second snorted doubtfully.

"Besides…" the boy said, turning back to Hei and Yin, his smile shifting to a noticeably greedier smirk. "I've found the person who has two souls in her."

Hei tensed, his grip tightening on Yin's shoulder. "How did you know that?"

"All of the royal family of Xing and their body guards can sense chi. A person with two souls stands out to us, especially someone like that girl. That other soul in her… it's different from anything I've ever felt. More evil. It was easy to sense her once we got into the city."

Hei's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What do you want with Yin?"

The boy's face split into a sneer. "To obtain immortality!"

* * *

Ed leaned against the wall outside the military hotel, panting and watching the rain pouring from under the roof's overhang he and Al were currently under. They had been running from military hotel to military hotel trying to find Winry, for hours. They had finally found the one she had chosen to reserve rooms at, only to find she had already left to ask Hughes's neighbors when he would be returning.

"Damn it…" said Ed tiredly. He slid down the wall to sit on the wet ground. "Winry…"

"You're tired, brother. Let me go look for her—"

"I'm coming," interrupted Ed. He was still breathing heavily. "Just let me rest for a minute."

"Maybe one of us should stay here though. She might call the hotel if she needs to be picked up," Al reasoned.

"Then, you can stay here," said Ed stubbornly.

"Ed—"

"I'm going!"

Al shook his head with a clanking noise and sighed. After a moment of silence, he whispered, "I can't believe he's dead."

"Yeah," muttered Ed, hugging his knees to his chest with his only arm. "And it's our fault. We got him involved in the philosopher's stone. He was probably…killed…as a warning to us." Ed rested his head on knees. "I wonder how his wife and kid…" Ed stopped, a lump in his throat. "It's our fault."

They sat in silence, but the rest of the world refused to keep quiet. The plinking noise of the rain on Al's armor, the screaming of a little boy who wanted to play in the rain, the barking of the neighborhood dogs at the occasional horse—the world didn't stop.

_It feels like the world should stop, just like when Mom died_, thought Ed. _We felt like it should stop, and that it would start going once we brought her back. But we just ended up…making her die twice. We can't make that same mistake again. We have to keep going. We can't wait for the world to have pity on us. We need to help Winry._

Ed stood up. "Let's go," he said dully, with an old look that clashed with his young features.

"Where?" asked Al quietly. "We never did find out where Hughes lived."

"Then we'll keep looking!" Ed told him, straining to act like his normal stubborn self. "Someone's bound to know eventually! We won't get anything done if we just mope around."

Al nodded. "Okay. Let's go," he agreed softly.

* * *

"Colonel Mustang, sir!"

"Come in, Second Lieutenant Breda," asked Mustang tiredly, rubbing at his eyes. He had been at his office in Central Headquarters for hours now, trying to bring some order to the search for any remaining survivors or bodies. It hadn't been easy. No one in Central trusted the new transfer from the East. He had stopped counting how many times he had been told that he was 'too new to the city to understand'. Whatever that meant.

"It's Lieutenant Hawkeye, sir. You know that phone Fuery set up? She was supposed to have used it to check in by now. In fact it's been over half an hour since she should've called."

Mustang stared dumbly at him for a moment. Then with a start he stood up so fast that his chair fell over with a clatter.

"Breda, find an excuse for me leaving," he barked. "I'm going!"

"But sir…!" protested Breda. "Send someone else! You're under too much suspicion at the moment!"

"Do you want a court martial, Second Lieutenant?" snarled the Colonel, who already had his jacket halfway on.

"No, sir, but…"

"Then do what you were ordered!" snapped Mustang as he pulled on his boots and hurriedly began lacing them with fumbling fingers.

"…Yes sir," sighed Breda. "I'll say…that there were reports that another body was discovered. It turned out to be a fake of course. Maybe we can get Fuery to rig up some reports as you're leaving…" he mused.

Mustang paused on his way out the door, and looked over his shoulder. "Thank you, Second Lieutenant."

"No problem, Colonel," said Breda with a slight smile. "I just hope you're not going to regret this."

Mustang turned his head to face out into the hall once more. "My first duty is to my subordinates." He sprinted down the corridor, causing some of the officers to protest in annoyance as he pushed past them.

Breda shook his head in exasperation, his smile still in place. "What an idiot. But…" he sighed, turning to the phone to call Fuery, "I guess that sort of idiocy is why we all follow him."


	9. Equivalent Exchange

A/N: I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

In the shack, the dying flame from the candle in the lantern the Lieutenant had dropped earlier in the day sputtered pathetically. Shadows momentarily won over the light, as the room was plunged into darkness. Then the embers on the wick grew into a feeble flame as the slight breeze caused by the Xingese boy closing the door behind him fanned the tiny, glowing coals. Hei's exhausted face was suddenly illuminated, casting long shadows across his face. His eyes seemed to glow as they reflected the candle light; narrowing, they regarded the Xingese boy in front of him warily.

"Immortality?" repeated Hei carefully. He shifted slightly, despite the throbbing in his foot, in an attempt to block Yin from the boy's sight. "How could Yin help you with something like that?"

"Well, she has two souls in her right? If we can figure out how to put more than one soul in a person, then that person can live longer. Maybe forever!" Ling explained, the greedy look still plastered on his face.

_Like a Philosopher's stone?_ "And why would you want that?"

"I am the sixteenth son of the Emperor from the Yao clan. I need to find the secret to immortality or at least something comparable…" Hei could tell that he was completely serious and, judging from the earnest look in the boy's eyes, desperate. "I need to be the next Emperor, so I can protect my clan!"

"There is no such thing as immortality," Hei said. His eyes moved to stare past Ling, seeing something they could not. _Screams of the dying… blood-red stones, dyeing the earth crimson with blood… his sister, smiling at him amongst a sea of corpses. _"Looking for something like that is just a waste of time. And you have no idea what the costs are. Nothing can be gained without losing something."

"Even so. I need to know how to put more than one soul into a person," urged Ling, leaning forward.

Hei looked at him with dead eyes. "Don't look at us. Government scientists did it to her. I have no idea what they did," he said. It was a half-lie—long ago that scientist, Dr. Schroeder, had explained the general concept behind how Yin was changed to a Doll. Not that the boy needed to know that.

Hei fought the urge to shift uncomfortably as the Xingese boy stared intensely at him, as if trying to divine if Hei was telling the truth or not. He didn't dare give even the slightest sign of weakness under this scrutiny, but sweat was running down his neck from the strain of putting even a little pressure on his foot wound.

Ling, finally seeming to have judged that Hei had told the truth, wilted in disappointment. He stared at the wet, muddy floor for a moment, before his head shot up and his mouth opened to ask another question. But before he could utter a word, he was interrupted from a groan in the opposite corner of the room.

Hei's eyes swiveled towards the sound; the Lieutenant he had electrocuted previously had started to stir. _That's strange. I meant to kill her… _

"Wha…?" Ling said with a start. His eyes darted over to the woman on the floor, and then with renewed suspicion back at Hei. "Is that why you want us to leave? So you can kill that woman?"

"It was self-defense," Hei replied dismissively, glaring at the Lieutenant. "But now that you mention it… I should finish her off before she shoots anyone else." He started limping painfully over to Lieutenant Hawkeye, his former attempt to hide his injury forgotten. Yin followed in order to keep supporting him.

"He's hurt," stated the female guard, Lan Fan, in a whisper to Ling. "Do you think he might just be trying to get us to leave?"

"Hmm…" Ling mused in reply as he watched Hei limp over to the Lieutenant. "And he doesn't seem that trustworthy… Should we stay and make sure he was telling the truth?"

"I think that would be advisable, Young Master," stated the old male guard. "But don't try to interfere in what he's doing. We don't know the situation, and we don't need to anger him unnecessarily."

Ling stared at the limping man's back. He had reached the woman prone on the floor. Ling pursed his lips indecisively, but didn't say anything.

"You can step back now Yin," Hei told Yin as he slowly bent over, wincing, and placing his weight on his hands and uninjured leg. "Go over to that crate, just in case." Hei placed a hand on the Lieutenant's head.

"Hei."

Hei paused and looked up at Yin. She hadn't moved. Hei's eyes tightened. It was definitely harder dealing with this new, disobedient Yin. "Yin. Move."

Yin stared at the wall; she wasn't in contact with the water puddle anymore, so she couldn't see him. "She didn't shoot," Yin stated robotically.

"What?"

"She said she would shoot me. She didn't."

"She shot me," Hei said tersely. "It's too much of a threat to let her live. Now, move."

Yin paused. "You hate killing."

Hei blinked, but quickly recovered his composure. "Not anymore. Move, Yin. I know what I'm doing."

Yin hesitated again but stepped carefully out of the way, feeling her way over to the crate that had previously been her bed before lifting herself on top of it.

The Xingese prince and his two guards looked on as Hei turned back to the woman struggling to breathe on the floor. Ling started forward unconciously, but was held back by the hand of his bodyguard, Fuu, on his shoulder. Ling shook off the hand angrily but didn't move forward again. His hands clenched into fists. "Damn it," he whispered to himself.

"Are you going to kill me?" rasped out Lieutenant Hawkeye. She could barely keep her eyelids open, and she was clearly struggling to keep breathing, but she didn't seem afraid. That was rare. Very rare. He felt a bit of admiration well up inside of him for this human, who with even all her feelings intact, and with her ability to make her own decisions not having been manipulated by a Contract with the Gate, was facing down death as stoically as a Contractor.

Still, he would not change his decision to kill her over something so trivial. "Yes," he replied in an emotionless voice.

"I see," she breathed with a detached expression.

"And that doesn't bother you," Hei observed. His eyes seemed lifeless as he looked at her—it was as if they had suddenly stopped reflecting light.

"I've ended too many lives… to have a choice… in when I die," Lieutenant Hawkeye managed to gasp out.

Hei froze, and his dead expression changed slowly to an almost vulnerable one as the Lieutenant's words triggered memories he had long tried to suppress. _Big Brother, come see. Look at all the bodies... Why do you hate killing?... Am I a monster, Big Brother?...You killed a lot today, Big Brother. Envy will be happy._

Hei's face hardened as he forced the memories to fade back into oblivion, where they belonged. "I see." He glowed momentarily, and the Lieutenant let out a strangled yell, writhing, as she was electrocuted.

A terrible, cloying silence filled the shack as the Lieutenant finally fell quiet.

Hei stood up carefully, and putting the minimum amount of pressure on his foot possible, limped over to Yin. Only the sound of splashes filled the room as he walked over to the crate, and even that was smothered in the humid air. Hei sat beside Yin with a soft sigh.

"…You killed her?" said Ling in a slightly dazed voice, breaking the quiet. Even the guards seemed a bit shaken at the unusual way the woman was killed. "But…how? You electrocuted her. Was that alchemy without a transmutation circle?"

Hei's eyes flicked up to Ling, who flinched at the killing intent in them. Silence permeated the room once more. Ling shook his head, trying to wrap his head around the situation. "I'm sure that was alchemy. Just like the Elric brothers."

Hei's eyes widened infinitesimally. "The Elric brothers can do alchemy without a transmutation circle?" he asked in a suddenly casual tone. For once, he wasn't fooling anyone.

"And why would I tell _you_ that?" Ling replied coldly. "You just murdered someone in cold blood. There's no way I would help someone like you."

"Do you want to live to become an emperor?"

"What?"

"Look down," ordered Hei, pointing at the floor. "With all the rain, what do you think has been leaking in from the floor and the roof all this time?"

"…Water?" said Ling hesitatingly. "But what…?" he gasped quietly in a sudden realization. His bodyguards pulled out their knives. "Oh. You used electricity."

"There's no point in that," Hei informed the guards coolly. "You'd be electrocuted before the knife left your hand." Hei glanced back at Ling. "Tell me. Can the Elric brothers transmute without a transmutation circle? And where are they now?"

Ling hesitated. "You said 'nothing can be gained without losing something', right? If that's true, then tell me where these researchers are, and I'll tell you."

Hei smiled slightly in disdain. "A very rational proposal. One even a Contractor would be proud of. Equivalent Exchange." He looked at Yin out of the corner of his eye and paused as if waiting for Yin's reaction to the request. When she did nothing, he sighed and turned back to Ling. "The researchers are hidden under Central. If you could sense Yin, you shouldn't have a problem finding their test subjects."

"And they stay with their test subjects?"

Yin's eyes flickered, and she looked up. "They were always there. Someone was always watching." Hei's glare momentarily softened into a pained gaze as his eyes took up a faraway look.

Ling nodded slowly as he noted the pair's behavior. "I think… you're telling the truth," he admitted reluctantly. He shuffled his feet and slowly started to speak. "So…both the Elric brothers can transmute without a transmutation circle." He paused and closed his eyes. "And…earlier today they were looking for a place to stay at…a military hotel here in Central. That's all I know."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"I am. I promise. And the Xingese always keep their promises."

Hei snorted softly at that and shook his head with a slight smile. _If that was true, I wouldn't be here._

"Alright. You can go. But," he warned them. "If you try to come after Yin again… I will kill you."

"Don't expect us to fall for that same electricity trick again," Ling replied coolly as he and his bodyguards hurried out the door. "If we happen to see each other again, we'll be prepared."

Hei let out a deep sigh as the group finally left and flopped backwards onto the crate, his arm over his face. "There really is no such thing as a safe place. This was supposed to be that Colonel's secret base, and look how easily they found us… "He looked past his arm to the ceiling pensively. "If the enemy gets that ability to sense chi, we'll be dead in a heartbeat."

Yin raised her head. "Then why did you send them to…that person."

"It was a gamble," Hei admitted. " But a rational one. I doubt they will turn to—its—side; no one who needs to become a respected heir would. In any case, if they don't join the homunculi, they'll be killed, eliminating that ability to sense chi, and they might manage to take a couple chimeras or researchers with them."

Yin nodded slowly as she stared back at the floor. "But…"

"What?" Hei prodded her as she hesitated.

"That Lieutenant. Why did you..."

The dead look returned to Hei's eyes. He stayed silent.

Yin didn't move, except for when her hands clenched, bunching up her dress. "I see."

"Yin…" Hei began quietly. "I'm sorry. But it's not an option to just knock people out. They'll come after us sooner or later if I let them live."

Yin blinked and raised her head. "Sor…ry?" she repeated quizzically.

Hei stared at her in consternation. A little bit of surprise had crept into her voice. Even when she seemed to be feeling something, her voice had never before showed it. How was she changing so quickly?

"Why," said Yin, going back to her usual monotonous voice.

Hei shook his head to clear it. "What do you mean, 'why'? You didn't want her to get killed."

"Because…" Yin said flatly, gazing blindly at her reflection in the murky water on the ground below. "You don't like to kill."

"I'm telling you, I'm a Contractor," argued Hei. "It doesn't bother me like it used to." Why did he feel the need to convince her of this? He didn't know himself.

Yin remained silent for a minute. "I don't know. I think… I'm starting to remember. Feelings. Enough to know... you're sad."

"I'm a Contractor and you're a Doll. I can't be irrational and you can't feel. That's just how it is," said Hei flatly. But memories of Yin expressing feelings niggled at the back of his mind. He couldn't help but think that she had been feeling emotions for a while now, as impossible as it was. And as for himself...he hadn't felt that overwhelming compulsion to be rational in quite some time; now his Contract was only a voice in the back of his mind ordering him to be logical. Sometimes he couldn't help it, and his Contract to the Gate overpowered his will, but it happened much less often now than ever before. So was what he said necessarily true? The permanence of their transformations had been pounded into both of them by the researchers. But maybe…

"We're changing. We've been changing."

"What?"

"Why didn't you run away."

Hei gave her an uncomprehending look. "What are you talking about?"

"When the Colonel captured us. You could've run off. Without me. But you didn't. That was…illogical."

Hei couldn't speak for a moment. "That's different. You're my partner."

Yin jerkily shook her head.

"But…a deal with the Gate can't just be taken back."

"'Nothing can be gained without losing something'," Yin quoted. She stuck her bare foot into a puddle, and part of her soul rose out of the water, allowing her to look Hei in the eyes.

"You're saying… that maybe we've lost so much already that we've started to pay off our debt to the Gate?" Hei asked slowly.

"I don't know."

Hei looked away from her to outside the window. "I hope you're right," he said quietly. "If you're not… then that means that we're going to lose something else in exchange for starting to regain back our humanity."

* * *

"Master! Please Master, wait!"

"Young Master!"

Ling slowed and turned as his two body guards ran up to him through the rain, mud splattering their formerly spotless uniforms. His clothes weren't in much better shape.

"What is it?" Ling asked. It was unnecessary; he could tell what they were thinking by the tone of their voices.

"Are you sure this is the wise course of action, Young Master? You said yourself he is not trustworthy."

"He isn't. But I believe he was telling the truth."

"Young Master! Please do not be foolish! This could be a trap, or—"

"Fuu. Do you think we have time to think about that? We need to get the secret to immortality, even if we lose our lives. We have the fate of thousands—no, millions—of people on our shoulders."

"But Master!"

"I'm going. If you don't want to, you can stay."

"Please don't say such foolish things, Young Master!" exclaimed Fuu angrily. "We will follow you anywhere. Our duty is to protect you."

"Yes, Master," interjected Lan Fan uncomfortably as she fidgeted with a tassel on her robes. "We only are trying to get you to rethink this for your safety. Please listen."

Ling shook his head. "Thank you, both of you. But your true duty is to protect the Yao clan. 'A king cannot exist without his people'. We have to protect the people first."

"Master," Lan Fan disagreed more firmly this time. "That is true, but without a king, the people have no one to lead them. You must survive."

Ling frowned at her. "I'm not planning to die. But we will all do what we have to."

"But—!"

"Lan Fan!" reprimanded Fuu. "That's enough. The Prince has thought it over and made his decision. It is our duty to follow him."

"Y-yes, Grandfather," Lan Fan muttered and lowered her head. She was surely blushing in mortification underneath that mask, Ling thought. He sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Well… let's get going then. Back to Central."

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon…" muttered Mustang to himself agitatedly. There was a huge line of traffic in front of him, and he was seriously considering just jumping out of the car and running to the shack. It might actually be faster.

"Calm down, Colonel," sighed Havoc, who was driving the car. Mustang had pushed past Havoc on his way down the stairs, and Havoc, realizing that something was very wrong from his expression, had followed after him. Mustang had been absentmindedly impressed with Havoc's ability to drop everything he was doing just on a hunch that something was wrong, but now that was the last thing he was thinking about.

"What's the hold-up?" growled the Colonel. "I thought people were told to not drive around on the streets today?"

"Well… at first people were obeying it. But now people are taking it as an advisory, not a real warning," admitted Havoc. "Nobody thinks that they'll actually be attacked with practically the entire military on patrol. And the fact that all the MPs are searching cars left and right is really slowing everything up."

"Damn it," Mustang muttered as he brushed his bangs away irritably. "Why today of all days…"

Havoc glanced at Colonel Mustang out of the corner of his eyes. "Would you mind telling me why we're rushing back to the hideout, Colonel? You never did say—"

"Lieutenant Hawkeye never checked back in with us," said Mustang shortly. "And you know how punctual she is about everything."

"It could just be faulty wiring," said Havoc placatingly. "It's been raining pretty hard since morning, and the telephone wire Fuery hooked up wasn't exactly meant to be permanent. Lightning could've hit—"

"I'm not taking any chances, Second Lieutenant," interrupted the Colonel, obviously not comforted. His foot tapped relentlessly against the floor of the car. "I left her alone against my better judgment with an extremely dangerous criminal. If she didn't check in, that's definitely a cause for concern."

"I know, sir, I just…" Havoc sighed. "Never mind." He stared out the rain-speckled windshield at the un-ending line of cars. It was still drizzling, but the sun was starting to peek out behind the clouds; occasionally a beam of light would stretch towards the ground from above, only to be extinguished moments later by a cloud that blocked its path. "The rain is stopping. Let's just head out on foot. We haven't been getting anywhere like this."

Mustang assented with a grunt. "Yeah. Let's go." _You better be alright, Lieutenant_, he thought to himself. _Or I'm never going to forgive myself_.


	10. Guesses and Revelations

Chapter 10—Guesses and Revelations

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! It really does help me to stay motivated, so thank you! :)

I also don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist, in case you didn't guess that by now.

* * *

Ed bent over and put his hand on his knees, panting for breath. They still hadn't found out where Hughes lived! They had run all over the city, and now they were close to where they had started, the train station. Quite a few people knew the name from the newspaper, and each reminder that Hughes was dead was like a stab in the gut. But it was just as bad not knowing where Winry was. She was probably crying somewhere, being the crybaby she was… Ed's insides twisted in guilt. He took one last gasping breath and straightened up, wiping off some of the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. Maybe someone in the train station would have at least seen what direction she had gone in.

"Are you sure you're okay, Ed?" asked Al concernedly. "I could carry you around or something…"

"No way…am I going to be… carried around like some…kid," huffed Ed. He was trying to sound angry, but the breathiness of his voice dramatically reduced the effect. "Let's go ask… the train station guy." He stumbled into the train station after flashing his silver watch at the guards outside.

Al shook his head but followed after him. "Honestly…"

Ed tried to look as dignified as possible as he walked up to the man that made announcements to the train passengers, but he knew he probably looked like a lunatic at this point. The humidity from the rain evaporating from the streets combined with the exercise had made him sweat profusely, some of his hair had fallen out of his braid into a static-filled halo around his head, and his legs were refusing to work properly after being abused from running around almost the entire city. His empty right sleeve hung limply at his side. And sure enough, the man looked alarmed as he noticed Ed staggering up to him, and positively terrified as he saw the gigantic suit of armor that was Al lurking behind him.

"W-what do you want?" the man stuttered nervously. He half-raised his arms as if he thought he might have to defend himself at any moment.

"Do you know where… Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes lived?" panted Ed.

"Maes Hughes?" repeated the man slowly. "Isn't that the guy who was killed—"

"I know he was murdered!" Ed interrupted angrily. His insides twisted into a painful knot at having to say it aloud once again. "Do you know where he lived?"

The man seemed a bit taken aback at Ed's rudeness, and with a puff of indignation, he said shortly, "No, I do not. And if you had a scrap of manners, young man, you would—"

"Did you see a blond girl with blue eyes running off someplace a couple of hours ago?" interrupted Al urgently.

The man gulped and, in a more respectful voice, said to the large armored form facing him, "Blond hair and blue eyes describes about half of Amestris. How am I supposed to know who you're talking about?"

"Are you sure you don't know?" Ed asked in desperation. "She had a short, black skirt and a white tank top on, with long, blonde hair in a ponytail. We can pay you if you want!"

"Pay me?" the man asked, looking highly affronted. "As if the pocket money of a crippled school boy would be enough—"

"I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist," growled Ed, thrusting his pocketwatch in the man's face. "I guarantee you I can pay whatever you need. Being _crippled_ has nothing to do with it," he added with a snarl.

"Uh, Ed," Al spoke up. "You can't use state funds for brib—"

Ed shot Al a warning glare, and Al quieted down, seeming to understand something.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist?" repeated the man in bewilderment. His face turned greedy as he realized how much money he could get out of the boy in front of him.

"The Fuhrer came by here earlier looking for you. Someone said that they saw the girl that had been with a suit of armor earlier around the east side of the city, and he headed after her…" the man's voice trailed off expectantly.

Ed gaped at him for a moment. "He went after Winry?" he repeated dumbly. "But—why?" His thoughts whirled, trying to find a reasonable assumption for the Fuhrer's actions. _Maybe that cop already leaked what we told him. We were under strict orders not to tell anyone. If he did, then…_

"Winry's in trouble," breathed Ed. He reached into his pocket, dug out some money without looking at it, and shoved it into the announcement man's hands. "Let's go, Al!" He sprinted off, his previous tiredness forgotten as adrenaline pumped through his body.

"Hmm…" the man muttered to himself after the strange pair had run away from the station. "I wonder how much he gave me…" he inspected the wad of cash in his hand.

"Huh…? That's not even enough to get me lunch!"

* * *

"Did you get asked by the Fuhrer about a blonde girl a while ago? No?"

"How about you?"

"Have you seen the Fuhrer today?"

Ed ground his teeth in frustration as they asked everyone they could find along the street if they had seen the Fuhrer or Winry. No luck so far… and it was quickly getting dark. The sky was stained crimson, the clouds a fluffy purple as the sun sunk slowly below the horizon.

"Hey!" someone shouted from the small crowd now surrounding them. "You were wondering if someone saw the Fuhrer, right? My Dad just said he saw him along South Main Street!"

"Thanks!" yelled Ed gratefully. "I owe you one!" He couldn't afford to keep paying off people giving him tips, he was flat broke. Despite popular lore, State Alchemists didn't get paid much at all—most of the money they received was supposed to go towards their research.

"Wait up, Ed!" shouted Al. He was stuck in the crowd as Ed sprinted away.

"Hurry up!"

Al managed to extricate himself and clanked after Ed. He caught up shortly as his longer, effortless strides quickly overpowered Ed's exhausted attempt to sprint.

"South Main Street isn't far from here," muttered Ed. "Should be… right around the corner."

"Ed, what did you mean? How's Winry in trouble?"

Ed ignored him as he stumbled up to the first person he came across on the street. "Have you seen the Fuhrer around here?"

The brunette he had run into jumped in surprise at his sudden question, but seemed perfectly willing to gossip. "Y-yeah. It was bizarre!" she exclaimed. "I've only seen him in parades before, but he was driving around looking for some blonde girl."

"Did he find her?" Ed demanded, heart pounding.

"Yep. I saw it just a while ago. She was looking pretty down, but he drove right up and she seemed to cheer right up. Nice man. Anyways, he drove away with her a while ago."

Ed could only look at the woman, panting in shock. Al nodded to the woman politely. "Thank you for your help, Miss." He dragged Ed away by the arm into a nearby alleyway.

"Ed, what was that all about? Tell me!"

Ed seemed to suddenly snap back into reality. "Let me go, Al! He has Winry! She's probably been kidnapped because we disobeyed orders! We have to go help her!"

Al stared at him for a moment and shook his head. "That's what you came up with?" asked Al in exasperation. "You can't just go rampaging into Central Headquarters. We have no idea what's happened yet. For all we know, maybe he really _was_ trying to cheer her up."

"Don't give me that, Al," spat Ed. He started pacing up and down the alley. Pedestrians walking by on the sidewalk stared at him as if he was possessed. He looked it at the moment. "The Fuhrer himself wouldn't come out to do something like that. This is serious."

"It could be," admitted Al. "But let's just try calmly visiting Central Headquarters, alright? If she's a hostage, they're going to make sure we know it. If she is, well… then we'll go from there."

Ed stopped his pacing, and took several deep breaths. "Good thing I can always trust you to keep a cool head, Little Brother." His forehead remained creased in worry, however.

Al shook his head, but Ed knew he would be smiling if he could. "That's what I'm here for."

* * *

"Let's go, Yin."

Yin tilted her head up. The sun had just set, but, due to the last sputtering of the candle from the lantern the Lieutenant had dropped, Hei could see her standing above Lieutenant Hawkeye. The small flame had managed to survive the damp thus far, but was quickly losing the battle as it burned what remained of the wick feebly. "Hei."

"We need to get out of here before the Colonel comes back and finds his Lieutenant's corpse," continued Hei, as he painfully stood up from where he was sitting on the crate. His short captivity was already taking its toll on him. He had a five-o'clock shadow, his face was white and haggard from blood-loss, pain, lack of sleep, and not having had anything to eat since he was captured over a day ago. "He seems like the vengeful type. We don't want to get mixed up in that."

Yin nodded but continued contemplating the Lieutenant, the ghostly form of the portion of her soul in a puddle of water in front of her. "Hei, have you ever had trouble…electrocuting people."

Hei paused. "It's not hard for me to kill people, no. I already told you that."

"No. Have you tried electrocute someone. But it didn't kill them," Yin stated monotonously.

"Why?" asked Hei guardedly. For some reason, he hadn't been able to kill that Lieutenant the first time. It was definitely a cause for concern if he was starting to lose his electrical abilities. Especially if Yin's theory was true, and it was in exchange for something like feelings and irrationalities. Being able to produce electricity was essential to their survival. Being able to act on feelings was not.

"She's alive."

"_What_?" Hei exclaimed. "The Lieutenant?"

Yin nodded dully.

"How can you tell? You haven't touched her."

"Her heart is beating against the water. The specter can feel it."

Hei ran his hand through his hair. "I meant to kill her. Both times I electrocuted her. It doesn't take much electricity to kill someone, so…" He stared at his hand and steadied himself against the crate.

He had to see if he could still use alchemy. And he had to do it in some way that wouldn't involve Yin getting accidentally hurt, or giving their location away to the enemy… He didn't dare release the electricity into anything that was on the ground, for fear of shocking Yin. It had to be someplace up high…

He looked out the window, searching for such an object. There was nothing but trees it seemed, except—what was that? He squinted as he thought he saw a thread-like object going between the trees.

"Yin. To your four o'clock there's something strung up between some pine trees. What is it?"

"A power line. It is held up by poles. Not trees."

Hei nodded to himself. "How low is it? And where does it lead to?"

"It's low enough for you to reach. If you stretch. It goes…to Central."

_Perfect. _"Yin, make sure you get onto one of the dry crates, just in case. And don't touch anything wet or metallic!"

Yin nodded and did as he asked. Hei limped outside and looked around the best he could. Once his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the full moon, they found the low-lying power lines he had been searching for.

"Yin," he called. "Watch from a puddle someplace above Central City. Keep track of how many houses lose their power. I'm about to add as much electricity as I can to the power line outside."

He could hear Yin give a muffled affirmative reply through the walls of the shack.

Hei took a deep breath, and gritting his teeth, limped up to the power lines, his foot screaming in protest. He ignored it the best he could. Once he reached the lines, he glowed blue momentarily as he lifted and arm, and firmly grabbed the wire, releasing all the electricity he could muster. When he was sure that he had done all he could, he let go and staggered back into the shack, onto the crate.

"Well?" he panted, squinting at her through eyes tight with pain. He gingerly held his bandaged wound, which was shooting agonizing waves of pain up his foot. "What happened?"

"Half of Central City lost its power," Yin testified dully as if she was reporting the weather.

"That's quite a bit," Hei muttered. He rested for a couple minutes on the crate, then hauled himself up and over to the Lieutenant. He put a hand on her head and tried to electrocute her. But this time, he couldn't even produce a spark.

Hei sat back and stared at his hand again. "So I can still create electricity like usual. But for some reason, just not enough when I'm trying to kill that Lieutenant." He couldn't stop himself from peeking at Yin suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. It was strange… the first time he had failed to kill the Lieutenant had been one of the rare times Yin had been in the same room as him when he was assassinating some. And the first time she had ever spoken up against him killing someone, he again wasn't able to electrocute them. Was Yin somehow controlling how much electricity he could use to shock something?

It was impossible to tell. Yin was looking straight ahead, just like always.

Hei sighed. He would just have to trust Yin. If he couldn't trust Yin, he couldn't trust anybody. Something else must have caused it.

"Alright, now that we've confirmed that, time to get out of here."

"You're not going to kill her."

"No. I could break her neck, but…"Hei's voice trailed off. Either his fluctuating power was random, or something really didn't want him to kill the Lieutenant. If the latter was true, he didn't want to mess with whatever it was that could control his use of alchemy. At this point it was more rational to just leave the woman and go. She would still be injured for quite a while, in any case. "It's not worth it," Hei concluded. "Let's just go."

Yin nodded listlessly. "Okay. To a doctor."

Hei glared at her. "No, Yin. We're going after the Elric brothers. I can get my foot looked at later. If they've seen the whole Truth, and not just part of it… then I'm going to need to kill them as soon as I can."


	11. Investigation

A/N: Just so there's no confusion, in this chapter there is a character from the Darker than BLACK manga: Parcel. She can teleport herself with anything within a dark sphere she conjures up. So yeah.

Also… I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

"Whoah!"

"Get a lantern, get a lantern!"

"I can't see anything!"

"Al!"

Al turned his head, searching blindly for Ed, whom he'd been able to see just moments before all the buildings on the street had lost power. While everyone on the street had been attempting to feel their way to a wall, he had gotten separated from Ed. "Ed, come here!"

"I'm trying!" he heard a grumpy voice say. "I can sorta see some moonlight reflecting off the armor…" Ed shuffled up to Al carefully.

"Let's keep heading towards Central HQ," whispered Ed, just loud enough to be heard over the babble over the pedestrians still commenting on the sudden power outage. "It'll be best to catch them by surprise, if possible."

"Ed, I thought we were going to see what was going on first?" Al asked in a warning tone.

"Yeah," said Ed carefully. "But I still don't think that it was a coincidence that they took Winry right after we disobeyed orders." He hastily changed his tactic as he heard the familiar and dreaded clanking sound of Al crossing his arms disapprovingly. "Well, it'll help with sneaking back in anyways, _after_ we see if she's safe or not."

Al nodded. "That's better. We're almost there anyways. I'm sure we'll be able to find it, even in the dark…"

"I can barely even see you, and you're right there!"

"I can sort of see… here, take my hand."

Al led Ed down the street, narrowly avoiding the blind people meandering around the roads, who were trying to find the end of the street.

"Is that it?"

"I think so…"

"Who's there?" came a demanding voice in front of them.

"Uh… the Elric brothers," said Al confusedly as he looked around to see who had spoken. "We're here to meet Fuhrer President Bradley."

"Identification?"

"Will you even be able to see it?" grumbled Ed as he pulled out his pocket watch and flashed it in the general direction of the voice.

"Wait a second…" the guard mumbled as there was the rustle of fabric before a small flame from a cigarette lighter almost blinded them. "There."

He looked at the watch closely, the light from the flame dancing off the watch, making the Amestrian dragon inscribed on the watch seem to move. "Alright, you're good. Go ahead. But I'm not promising that the Fuhrer President isn't busy or asleep. It is pretty late after all."

"Thank you for your time," Alphonse called over his shoulder as he dashed off Ed, who was already running up to the stairs to Central Headquarters.

As they ran the stairs leading to Central Headquarters, Ed tripped over his feet and cursed as he landed awkwardly on his flesh hand. He was still off-balance from only having one arm. "Damn it. Why can't they at least have a light _somewhere _in Central HQ?" He paused in getting up as he considered his own question.

"Hey Al."

"Hm?"

"Don't you think it's strange no one's thought to get a lantern in that big building? I mean, it would make it harder to keep the Fuhrer secure or something, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Why do you—" Al's tinny voice cut off as he caught onto what Ed was thinking. "Oh," he sighed. "You think the Fuhrer has something to hide. Like Winry."

Ed nodded. "The power's been out for a while now. Someone should have lit up something. I wonder if he's the one who cut the lights in the first place?"

Ed's tone was forcibly calm, but he didn't fool Al at all. "Ed, don't worry. I'm sure Winry's fine."

"But don't you think it's a really strange coincidence?" asked Ed, dropping his act. "Winry is kidnapped and conveniently the power goes out. There's not even a candle lit in Central HQ! It would be easy for him to smuggle Winry who-knows-where."

"Ed, I still think—"

"Think about it Al!" said Ed, his voice rising in volume. "None of the signs point to the Fuhrer trying to help Winry! Why would he? He's never even seen her or known about her before today!"

"Ed, all we did was tell that MP that the mass murderer was Barry the Chopper. You're jumping to conclusions."

They were nearly at the halfway point in climbing the stairs now, but Ed stopped and looked down at Al. He was a couple of steps higher than Al, and the moonlight reflecting off his golden eyes clashed with the surrounding darkness.

"And what if the cop decided to report to his superiors after all? We have no idea how many of the higher-ups were involved in Lab Five. It would be easy to assume that that MP knew more than he actually did—"

"But how does any of this even relate to the Fuhrer?" asked Al in exasperation. He started walking up the steps past Ed. "He was the one who was trying to rid the government of corruption."

"So he said," replied Ed as he reluctantly followed after Al. "But remember? He killed off Greed and his chimeras without even interrogating them at all. I think you're underestimating how suspicious the Fuhrer is."

Al was silent for a moment except for the loud clanking his armor was making as he trudged up the stairs. It squeaked occasionally; he would have to remember to oil it later. "No, I remember," he finally said quietly. How could he forget? He still sometimes found flakes of dry blood—Martels' blood—in his joints when he was oiling his armor. "I guess I'm just really hoping that you're wrong. Because if it comes to a fight with the Fuhrer, we're dead."

"You don't know that," Ed protested.

"I do," asserted Al. "The Fuhrer took down Greed like it was nothing. And he killed Martel and the other chimeras… like they meant nothing, too."

Al watched his cold, metallic feet as they climbed one stair, then another. "Thud. Thud." Rhythmic. Just like a heartbeat that he hadn't felt in years. And the Fuhrer knew about his body. The Fuhrer had been among the first to realize by himself…

"I'm sorry, Al," Ed apologized quietly, but Al wasn't paying much attention to him. A feeling of dread was growing within him, and the beginnings of panic followed in its footsteps. "I know that was really traumatic, having Martel die inside you—"

"Ed," Al interrupted in the calmest voice he could manage. "Didn't the Fuhrer ask if your automail was related to my metal body?"

Al saw the moonlight reflecting off of Ed's eyes disappear momentarily as Ed blinked in surprise at the sudden subject change. "Yeah. He did. Why?"

"Would he be able to realize something like that normally unless he had known about the cost involved in bonding souls to suits of armor? He made that connection pretty quickly and he's not even an alchemist. Colonel Mustang and Doctor Marcoh didn't even seem to know it was possible to bond souls to armor."

Ed stared at him, his eyes growing impossibly round. Al could now see the entire moon reflected off of them. "So…You're saying that…he was involved somehow in Lab Five. He knew about bonding souls to armor." Ed stopped climbing and sat down, his hand on his chin. Al glanced up. They were close to the top, but hopefully not close enough that anyone could hear them.

"He told us not to investigate into Laboratory Five any further, for our own safety," murmured Ed to himself. "But that was so we didn't discover his involvement. …" Ed shook his head and put it into his lone hand, exhaling slowly.

"So if that cop told his boss anything, and his boss was corrupt…" Al whispered.

"Then he might have reported to King Bradley, who assumed we had blabbed about more than just Barry the Chopper, and took Winry to ensure that it didn't happen again," finished Ed.

They stood in silence for a moment, processing what they had just surmised.

"We don't know for sure if we're right. Not everything adds up. If Winry's a hostage, why didn't they make it more obvious? They didn't make any demands." Al shook his head slowly and murmured, "And even if we are right, we don't have a choice. He has the advantage. We have no idea where Winry is, and even if we did, we couldn't find her in this light. We'll just have to pretend like nothing's wrong and go meet him."

Ed took his hand away from his head and contemplated it silently. The fact that he only had one hand, his empty right sleeve dangling uselessly from his empty port only served to remind him of Winry's absence. If she was here, she would no doubt have finished the arm by now and would have dragged him away to get it attached. He suppressed a grimace at the thought. That automail geek… she annoyed him to no end sometimes with her obsession with automail. He had to admit, sometimes he wondered if the reason she was so willing to help him was because of his automail. It undeniably played a major role in her enthusiasm.

Ed sighed and tucked his flesh hand into his pocket. But they were friends, best friends, as they had been from childhood. She could get under his skin, but she also had supported him when he was at his lowest. No matter how pain-muddled his memories were of the automail surgery, he would never forget how she had helped him through it. When he had no arm, no leg, and no future, she had done everything in her power to get him moving again. And when he needed constant maintenance, she didn't just leave him. She still cared about him. _And… _Ed admitted to himself with a slight blush, _I care about her. J-j-just as f-friends though, _he amended hastily to his thoughts. He shook his head vigorously to clear his thoughts. He was at the enemy's doorstep! How had he gotten so off track just by looking at his empty sleeve?

"Uh… Brother? What are you doing…?" Al's slightly concerned voice intruded on his thoughts.

"N-nothing," Ed stammered as he stood up. He sobered almost immediately upon looking at Central Headquarters, where Winry was probably held. She was in danger. This was no time to be messing around.

Ed turned his head back to look at Al. Instead of passively reflecting the moonlight, Al could have sworn that Ed's eyes seemed to burn an internal flame bright enough to light up his eyes on its own. "Let's go, Al. And no matter what, we're getting Winry away from this alive."

Al nodded as they climbed the last few steps and faced the colossal building that was both the Fuhrer's house and Central Headquarters. "Yeah."

* * *

As Mustang raced up to the shack, clutching a stitch in his side, the first thought that came to his mind was that it was too quiet. Nothing was stirring in the surrounding forest—it was as if everything was holding its breath. There was no sound from the shack either: no snoring from the prisoners, and none of the Lieutenant's soft tread as she paced slowly around the room. No, the only sound was his feet sloshing through the muddy puddles as he approached the shack with ever-increasing worry, and Havoc's breathless call behind him.

"Colonel!" wheezed Havoc as he finally caught up to his commanding officer. He leaned back, put his hands on his hips, and tries to inhale as much of the swampy air as he could. It was comparable to trying to inhale through a moist towel. "Geez, have pity on a smoker, will ya?"

"It's your own fault you smoke so much," replied the Colonel automatically as he absentmindedly reached in his uniform pocket for his ignition gloves.

Havoc noticed the motion and closed his mouth to stop whatever retort he had been about to utter. "Something's wrong," he stated instead. "I don't like this feeling. Everything's too calm." He nervously got out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and lit the lighter.

The burst of light from the tiny flame was enough to reflect off a pair of eyes watching them nearby. Colonel Mustang started.

"Take cover!" he yelled at Havoc as he drew his gun and pointed it at the stranger. He and Havoc sloshed their way to hide behind some nearby trees, pointing the guns at the unknown person as they did so. "Show yourself!" he commanded the intruder.

"How am I supposed to do that?" complained a child's voice petulantly. Mustang's eyes widened in surprise, and Havoc let out the breath he'd been holding and lowered his gun. "I can't see anything! And I'm sure you can't either!"

"Go get a light from the city," suggested a smoother, older voice. Havoc raised his gun again, but they could still only see one pair of eyes reflecting the moonlight.

"Wha…?" asked Mustang in confusion at the bizarre suggestion. "No, just—"

"Oh," said the child's voice sheepishly, as if ashamed that she hadn't thought of it earlier. "Good idea."

Suddenly, the light from the eyes disappeared as a small circle of the purest black began growing from where the child's hand must've been. He had never seen anything like this circle—it was darker than black. It seemed to swallow all the moonlight as it steadily grew larger and larger until suddenly—it was gone. And the pair of eyes along with it.

"What the—" Mustang exhaled. He shook his head to clear it and rubbed his eyes, but it was no trick. The child had simply disappeared.

He heard a small squelching sound as Havoc shifted uneasily in the muck beside him. "Sir… what the _hell_ just—" he stopped short as the jet black circle reappeared and started to grow again. When it suddenly disappeared, the bright light of a lantern nearly blinded both of them.

"Got it!" said the child happily.

"Good job, Parcel," said the older voice.

Mustang squinted toward the voice, shielding his eyes. The older voice belonged to a tall man who seemed to be in his twenties with short, blond, wavy hair. He was wearing a white suit, which was somehow spotless despite his muddy surroundings, and sunglasses that shielded his eyes from the bright light.

_Ah…_thought Mustang a bit distractedly. _So that's why we could only see one pair of eyes…_

"November 11," said the child—Parcel, had the man called her?—standing beside the tall blond man. She was a small girl who looked to be about ten and who, strangely enough, was wearing a bear costume, ears and all. "These aren't Hei and Yin."

Mustang stiffened, but the tall blond man only smiled amicably at her. "No, they aren't. Seems we've missed them. They've probably left by now."

"Who are you?" demanded Mustang harshly. "What do you mean they've left? And where is my Lieutenant?"

"Oh dear," said the smiling blond man as he turned to face them. "Where are my manners? I'm November 11, and this is Parcel."

_Such strange names._

"And you two, I presume, were the infamous military officers who smuggled those two fugitives out?"

Mustang didn't answer for a moment, and then asked him levelly, "Are you going to turn us in?"

"And where would that get me?" asked the man, still smiling. "I was only told to get that Contractor you were holding captive and that Doll that follows him everywhere. Fighting you would be completely irrational, and I pride myself in being a Contractor, after all."

_A…Contractor? _ wondered Mustang as November 11 turned away from him to face Parcel.

"Well, let's head after him, then," said November 11 to the little girl.

"Wait!" growled Mustang through gritted teeth. "What. Happened. To my Lieutenant?"

November 11 turned his head slightly to look at him out of the corner of his eye, and Mustang caught a glimpse of his icy-blue eyes before the sunglasses concealed them again. "If you mean the unconscious young lady in there," he pointed behind Mustang to the shack. "She's still alive. I think she is, anyways."

"Still alive..?" repeated Mustang quietly. But that made it sound like…

"Go, Colonel," Havoc told him. "I'll keep a watch on these two. Sounds like the Lieutenant will need to go to the hospital."

Mustang nodded shakily at him and stumbled towards the shack, tripping once or twice over tree roots with loud splashes. "Be careful, Second Lieutenant Havoc."

Havoc returned his attention to the man in the white suit and the girl in the bear costume.

"So," said November 11 pleasantly as he continued to smile towards Havoc. "Your name is Havoc, is it? I knew someone quite well who was also named Havok."

"Yeah?" asked Havoc uncomfortably. It was a bit unnerving engaging in small talk with someone he was holding at gunpoint.

"Oh yes," replied the blond man, in no way discomfited by holding this conversation in the middle of a swampy forest with someone who was ready to kill him at any moment. "She was a mass-murderer during the Ishbalan genocide. Quite the brutal one, too. She drank the blood of children to pay her Contract."

There was a beat of silence as Havoc gaped at November 11.

"That was a joke," the man added on belatedly.

"Uh…" replied Havoc, nonplussed. Did this man ever stop smiling? That pleasant grin of his seemed plastered to his face.

November 11 reached into a pocket in his white suit suddenly, and Havoc tensed and better positioned his gun, ready to fire. "Stop right there!"

"Oh, drat," said the man, finally frowning. He was holding a soggy package of cigarettes. "It must've been the rain… You don't happen to be a smoker, do you?" he asked Havoc.

"Yeah, but—"

"I would really appreciate a pack."

"No way!" protested Havoc. "I only have one—"

"Please," November 11 requested. His voice had suddenly taken on a cold edge, and a shiver ran down Havoc's spine.

With a gulp, Havoc tossed over the pack. _Only to keep the Colonel from whining about me smoking_, he told himself. But he knew it was a lie. Something about this November 11… wasn't quite right. And he had a feeling he didn't want to get on his bad side.

"Thank you very much," said November 11, back to his pleasant voice. He pulled out a lighter, and inhaled deeply once the cigarette was lit. He started hacking almost immediately.

"Filthy, nasty things," November 11 muttered, looking at the cigarette with great dislike.

"Then why'd you ask for them?" cried Havoc in dismay. _My last pack!_

The blond man coughed again, and told him, "I absolutely _detest_ smoking. But I have no choice. It's my payment."

"What's this payment you keep on talking about?" asked Havoc cautiously, careful not to be too demanding. He didn't want to provoke an unnecessary confrontation.

"We're alchemists," piped up the little girl in the bear suit. "And you have to pay something to ever receive anything in alchemy."

"Unfortunately," agreed November 11 neutrally. The light from Parcel's lamp diffracted off of the cigarette smoke around his head, seeming to give him an amorphous halo.

"Hold on," Havoc butted in. "I may be a country hick, but I'm not stupid. Alchemists don't have to make payments to do alchemy!"

"We have… special circumstances," stated November 11. Coldness was again seeping into his voice, and Havoc decided it would be best to change the topic.

"But you can't be an alchemist, right little girl?" he asked Parcel.

"Hey!" protested Parcel. "I'm almost thirteen!"

"You're wearing a bear costume, kid. What did you expect me to think?"

"It's not my fault! It's my payment! I know it looks ridiculous!"

_Again with the payments?_

"Parcel, I think we really should be heading out," November 11 said to the girl.

"What? No," said Havoc grimly, aiming his rifle squarely at the man's head. That was one thing he would not allow. "I don't think so. You're not going anywhere."

"I'm terribly sorry, but I _really_ must be going," said November 11 apologetically as if he were trying to get away from an over-enthusiastic host at a party. "And since we seem to disagree so strongly on this, I'm afraid I have no choice."

Havoc squinted at him through his rifle's sight. "What are you talking about?"

"Your legs, my dear friend. I'm afraid they'll be quite—useless—from now on."

"What—?" Havoc's exclamation ended as a gasp of pain. His legs…! They were on fire! Or they felt like it, but when he looked down, he could see that they were now solid blocks of ice. And now…He couldn't feel them. He couldn't feel his legs! He let out a strangled yell and fell over. One of his legs, made brittle from the extreme cold, made a snapping sound. He couldn't feel his legs! His brain whirred frantically, spewing out possibilities. Had the nerves died already? Was it shock? He couldn't bring himself to look to see if the legs were still attached or not.

Still smiling, November 11 walked over to Havoc on a layer of ice. "I'm sorry. I'm sure I would have liked you, even with your nasty smoking habit, if we had met in different circumstances. But I can't disobey direct orders. I need to find those two."

Havoc, through the haze of his shock and his quick, panicked gasps, registered one word dully._ Orders._ That was odd… Why was it odd? He couldn't tell. Everything was fogging up. Like the smoke from the fresh cigarette November 11 had just lit. Like the smoke from the battlefield or the remnants of the Colonel's flames.

The Colonel. _Well, Colonel,_ he thought as he braved a glance at the blackened remains of his legs. Even through the fog clouding his vision, he could tell they were ruined beyond repair. Bile rose in his throat, but he didn't have the strength to vomit, and it dribbled out of the side of his mouth. _I guess I won't be able to keep any girls after this._

The fog was getting thicker, and he could barely make out the pair of strange alchemists disappearing along with the light.

It was a strange contrast, he mused. His vision was getting whiter, but there wasn't any light anymore—the lantern was gone. There was something wrong with that….right? His head whirled, trying to make sense of the situation. But nothing made sense. He shouldn't be lying here in a puddle of icy water. He should be chasing after that man. So why wasn't he? Oh… that was right. His legs were gone. And he needed legs to run.

"Havoc!" he heard the Colonel yell someplace closeby. But it sounded quiet. How strange.

Odd. Just like when the blond man had said that he was following orders. That was strange, too.

Havoc forced his eyes open. That was important. His reeling brain couldn't think of why, but he knew it was. He had to tell the Colonel. But his tongue flopped uncooperatively in his mouth.

"Hang on, Havoc!"

What a strange, echoing sound Mustang's voice made. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

Focus. Orders. Whose orders? The thought swam around in his mind and drifted away. They weren't his…

"Havoc, I order you to stay alive!" cried the Colonel's muted voice in desperation.

Orders. Oh yeah. He remembered. "Kuh-nal," he said thickly. He took a short wheezy breath. "He wuz… fallowin' ah-dahs." He hoped the Colonel could understand him because he was slipping further away, the fog growing impenetrable.

"Havoc… Havoc!"


	12. Nothing Lasts Forever

A/N: I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

Central Headquarters, an intimidating, hulking building under any circumstances, was even more frightening during the night. The moon cast its silvery light over the mansion, turning the world a monochrome black and white. Long shadows, cast by the smallest objects, buried everything in pitch-black darkness. Then, the yellow light of a lantern suddenly flooded out from an upstairs window. Spreading as far as it could before being swallowed up by the night, the light stained color back into the building, which had seemed to be engulfed by the repressive darkness.

The light's intrusion did not go unnoticed by the Elric brothers. "Al," whispered Ed as he pointed down the hall. They had made their way up Central Headquarters towards the Fuhrer's office. It was out from under the Fuhrer's door that they could see the glow of the lantern.

Al nodded, but hastily stopped the movement as it made a clanking sound that echoed down the hallway. He tried futilely to tiptoe quietly beside Ed, but his armor, instead of clanking, merely made loud screeching sounds from the metal plates slowly sliding past each other.

Ed cringed and motioned frantically for Al to stop. "Stay there, Al. Don't move."

Al stood completely still except for when he bowed his head gloomily. "It's not my fault I'm so loud," he whispered to himself. "You're the one who got that cheap oil…"

"Back me up," continued Ed, who hadn't heard him. "We don't know how he'll react once I go through the door."

"But—" Al cut off his whisper with a small gasp. Light flooded down the hallway as the door opened, and the Fuhrer stepped primly out, his hands behind his back. Ed and Al stood watching him with bated breath as he turned in their direction and looked at them with an intimidating, furious, glare.

Then suddenly, his expression cleared as if it had never been distorted in anger. He smiled at them genially, and Ed's eyebrows shot up in confusion. "Oh, it's the Elric brothers. What are you doing here at this hour? Not that I mind hosting some of our best alchemists, of course. Come in, come in."

"Um, sir—" Alphonse began nervously.

"Where's Winry?" Ed asked, his voice as blunt as the sudden fury that was carved onto his face.

"Who?" the Fuhrer responded with a slight tilt of his head. "I'm afraid I don't—"

"Like hell you don't." Ed's voice was slightly muffled by his tightly clenched-together teeth. He spat out in short, articulated sentences, "She's our childhood friend. You know that. You were seen taking Winry away in a car earlier today. Don't play dumb. We're not stupid."

"Oh?" inquired the Fuhrer. "And you weren't there with her?"

Ed blinked in surprise. "No, but you already know—"

"Are you saying you left your childhood friend to wander around Central City without an escort? Even knowing about the recent murders?" Ed's furious expression contorted into a strange mixture of anger and abashment. "You are two high-profile alchemists in this country. Some groups would pay dearly for your head especially, Edward. In that case, leaving your friend all alone, my dear alchemist, was extremely dim-witted."

"He's got a point," Al mumbled. Ed shot him a glare before turning his gaze to the Fuhrer.

"Are you trying to say that you didn't take Winry?" Ed asked, his brow furrowing even further. "Don't try to deny it!"

"I have no idea who Ms. Winry is," stated the Fuhrer clearly. "Few in Central have ever seen me up-close before with the exception of the people working in this building. It must have been someone who looks like me that took your friend." He looked at them in pity. "I understand how you must be feeling now, Edward. But please don't blame me for what someone else has done."

"I don't buy it!" spat Ed.

Al stayed silent.

"What have I done to earn your distrust, my young Fullmetal Alchemist?" asked the Fuhrer. "What motive would I have for kidnapping Ms. Winry? I have always tried to act in your benefit, to help out our youngest recruit. I've tried to protect you from Lieutenant Colonel Hughes's fate by warning you not to look into the Philosopher's stone project any longer, and I rescued you from death in Dublith. What more do I need to do to earn your trust?"

Ed ground his teeth as a vein popped in his temple. "Listen, you son of a—"

"Earn our trust?" Al's cool, calm voice cut cleanly through Ed's fury. "Sir, if you wanted to earn our trust, you shouldn't have slaughtered everyone in Devil's Nest."

"They were a threat to national security, Alphonse Elric," stated the Fuhrer coolly. "In ways you cannot imagine. I do not need to explain my actions to a child like yourself."

"A threat?" repeated Al in a deceptively pleasant tone. Ed shivered. It had been a while since he had seen Al this livid. "Do you know that for sure? You just killed everyone without caring if they were innocent or not." The light coming from Al's eyes seemed to burn in fury. "And in any case, who made them a threat in the first place, Fuhrer? Who changed them into chimeras?"

"The military!" Ed answered the rhetorical question heatedly. "The corrupt portion of the military that_ you _were supposed to be getting rid of—"

"That's why I eliminated them," interjected the Fuhrer, the steeliness in his voice growing with each word he spoke despite the smile he kept on his face. "What benefit was there to be had for letting them live?"

"You could have interrogated them to root out the rest of the corruption," stated Ed. "But why would you do that if _you're_ the one at the head of this conspiracy, right?"

The Fuhrer watched them; the corners of his smile fell downwards into a hard frown. New wrinkles creased their way in elaborate lines across his face as he scowled. "I see.… November 11! Parcel!"

"You called?" said a tall, blond man courteously as he stepped out of the room. A small girl in a bear costume followed in his footsteps, peeking out from behind him. She was carrying the lantern that had lit up the Fuhrer's office.

"Find these boys a cell; I need to go before my staff gets suspicious. But don't kill them. They're important sacrifices."

"Of course," replied November 11 with a short bow. "But afterwards, do I have permission to get a Doll? We just came in to report that we lost track of Hei and Yin a while back, so…"

"Try one from the newest batch," suggested the Fuhrer as he walked briskly down the long hall away from them. "I believe they wanted to test out the blond one."

"Hey!" yelled Ed. "What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," apologized November 11 to the Elrics. "But I can't tell you. I'm supposed to be capturing you."

"Good luck with that!" growled Ed as Al clapped his hands together and slammed them on the ground. Giant fists erupted from the walls, heading towards the blond man. But suddenly, a jet black circle grew out of nowhere and swallowed up the cement fists.

"What the…" gaped Ed as he heard the remains of the fists crumbled slowly to the ground. The lantern had suddenly gone with the black circle, he couldn't see a thing. "What was that circle thing?"

He spluttered as he suddenly got a face-full of water. Apparently the fists hadn't been the only things that the jet black circle had made to vanish; he could faintly see what he assumed to be a metal water pipeline sticking out from where a wall had been just moments before. The water continued to flood into the hall; it was now ankle-deep and spreading fast. _Did that hit the main water line for the whole building or something? This is a lot of water._

"I think this will be good enough," he heard November 11's voice say through the dark. And suddenly he couldn't move. His feet from ankle-down were trapped by cold, hard fetters. _What...? Ice?_

Ed snorted derogatorily. "Really? Is that the best alchemy you have up your sleeve? Just a simple control of the kinetic energy of water molecules? That won't be hard to undo at all." Well…normally it wouldn't, anyways. But now he had no automail—he couldn't just clap and perform alchemy like usual. His decision to confront the Fuhrer right away seemed more and more foolish by the second, but he couldn't take it back now. Not that he would have anyway. No matter how foolish it was, he was more certain than ever that the Fuhrer had taken Winry. And he wasn't about to let him just get away with it.

"No," November 11's voice was agreeing pleasantly to his previous statement. "You're quite right. It's a cheap trick. The only thing that makes it special is that I can perform it without a transmutation circle."

Ed listened intently as his lone hand quickly sketched out a transmutation circle on the ice in front of him using the murky water. He freed himself with a small spark of alchemy, which illuminated all of their faces momentarily. Ed held his breath, but to his relief, November 11 ignored the brief flare of light. Ed plunged his hand into the frigid water surrounding his feet and started trying to scratch out a new circle on the floor. _Just a minute more…_

"Then… you've seen _it_?" asked Al breathlessly. He had seemingly forgotten all about escape on learning about the man's unusual ability. "But… then why didn't you transmute until that pipe broke? You should have been able to use the ground or walls."

"I've seen part of the Truth. Only enough to transmute wat—"

"November 11," echoed a strange voice from outside the window. Ed could see the bright dots of lanterns outside the building now. And perhaps it was his imagination, but he could've sworn that he saw the flash of teeth and eyes in the shadows the light created. "There is no need for them to know anything about your abilities. Or about any of the other Contractors."

"Ah, my apologies. It must have been my upbringing as a gentleman. Despite everything, it's just natural for me to be polite."

"Don't try to lie to me. Politeness isn't in your 'programming'," growled the voice, which faded away as it said, "Just hurry up and capture them."

"Yes sir."

Ed's eyes narrowed, and he brushed his hand over the now-completed transmutation circle. "I don't think so." The ground beneath him and Al decomposed, dumping them and all the water down onto the floor below in the middle of a busy hallway.

"Aaah!"

"What's going on? Where'd this water come from?"

Ed landed with the best roll he could manage with all the people wandering the halls, and, by the light the transmutation created, he could see Al, who had landed considerably harder than him, melting the ice trapping his feet with a quick clap of his hands.

"Who's there? What was that light?"

"All lights are supposed to be turned off!"

The water continued to pour down from the roof in a continuous, murky stream.

"Let's go, Al."

As they turned to run from the chaos they had created, a light from the hole in the roof nearly blinded the brothers despite it coming from behind them. The water mirrored the light and reflected eerie, shifting patterns on the roof all the way down the hall.

"Ah, Parcel! You've returned," they could hear from above. "Would you mind bringing me downstairs? I don't want to get my suit dirty."

The light suddenly disappeared again, and the people in the hall cried out in shock. But in the darkness, Ed could see a circle darker than normal darkness expanding steadily, steadily until… it was juxtaposed with the sudden emergence of a bright light.

"Ugh," Ed grunted, shielding his eyes. He couldn't see anything!

"Cheap though my alchemy may be," he heard November 11 say as he walked towards them with splashing steps. "Even though all I can do is freeze water… It is still quite effective."

Ed's gasp died in his throat as all his movements were suddenly constricted. Even his eyes were welded shut.

"Your escape attempt was valiant, but you got soaked in the process. I can easily freeze all the water on you."

_That's not enough to stop me! _Ed tried to say, but his lips were stuck to the ice covering his face, and he hastily abandoned the attempt. _It's just a thin layer of ice. I can break through it… _He smashed the ice covering his flesh arm with one attempt and grinned internally. From the sound of ice splintering off to his right, Al must be breaking through it as well.

"You must be thinking I am quite naïve for thinking such a small amount of ice could hold you boys back," continued November 11. "But you're wrong. Its purpose was to slow your movements and hinder your senses. I was at Ishbal during the civil war. Believe me when I say I know everything there is to know about ice."

Ed felt the man's foot push against his chest in a light kick, and he fell backwards into the ever-growing stream of water with his entire body submerged except for his head and neck.

"Now… I wonder how several inches of ice would hold you down?"

Ed's heart fluttered in panic for a moment before he felt the weight of the ice surround him, holding him down in an icy prison. _Cold. Cold!_

"Ed!" he heard Al yell with the accompaniment of the sound of ice shattering. "Hold on!" He could hear Al's armor clanking as he rushed to attack November 11. The man grunted in pain. Ed hoped that Al had at least been able to land a punch.

His skin around his automail port was already going numb. The rest of him could at least still register how cold it was. Unfortunately.

A light from a transmutation. He could see the flash even with his eyes glued shut. But whose was it? Now that he thought about it, he didn't remember the blond man creating a light from his transmutation, for whatever reason. Al must've done the transmutation…

"Gaah!" Al cried, and Ed heard the armor hit the water with a loud splash. His heart sank. Al was done for.

"Impressive," he could hear November 11 say. "I do believe you broke my nose. That hasn't happened in quite some time." There was a short pause, and Ed heard the sloshing of someone treading through water. "Parcel, bring these two down to the lab. They should have at least one extra cell, even with the preparations for the next experiment. Have both their hands and fingers completely restrained, and then you can thaw them out."

Ed shivered in his frozen shell as Parcel uttered an affirmative. _This is not good. Not good at all.

* * *

_

Hei gritted his teeth as he put down his wounded foot yet again. Nauseating pain erupted from his foot, blocking out everything else momentarily. As soon as the pain dulled, he had to put his foot down again, repeating the cycle.

He didn't make a sound, but Yin, who was supporting him, seemed to know. They had gotten progressively slower as they made their way towards Central through the forest, made swampy by the downpour earlier. And he couldn't say anything to make her go faster; this pace was already too taxing for him. But Yin seemed to be tired as well; she was weak from her days spent inside, alone. She was doing her best to support Hei, but it wasn't enough to relieve much of his pain.

Yin's soul in the water floated eerily ahead of them in the muck, guiding them through the quickest and easiest route to the City. The blob of water that was Yin's soul looked like a ghost as it shone silver in the moonlight that managed to seep through the branches overhead. Hei squinted at the specter as he noticed something. Perhaps it was just the light of the moon, but… no, something about the specter definitely seemed off. Its features were much more defined than the last time he had had a good look at it. Although the specter had slowly been taking on a more humanoid look over the years, he had just assumed that Yin was gradually learning how to shape the portion of her soul into something more recognizable. This sudden change was a bit unnerving. He could distinguish a realistic set of arms now, not just a pair of stumps. And specter even was now forming a face—a nose was just apparent in the dim light.

With his attention riveted on the specter, Hei didn't notice that Yin was sagging. Suddenly, she collapsed with a thud into the thick mud created by the storm, face-first.

"Yin!"

Hei stopped and slowly sat down next to her. He gently took her out of the mud and turned her to face him, to see if she was still conscious. She was, although her pale lavender eyes were flickering in exhaustion. Slimy mud dripped slowly down her hair, forming riverlets of muck down her dress. Her face was just as filthy.

"That's right… you were injured too," murmured Hei. How could he have forgotten? "You should have said something if you needed to stop."

Yin slowly shook her head, her hair flopping limply and spattering filth back on the ground. "We're being followed."

"It's better to be fully rested anyway, since there's no way we're outrunning them in this condition," said Hei firmly. "Rest for now. I'll keep watch."

Yin nodded weakly.

Hei looked at her for a moment. She was so light. Too thin. Being on the run for so many years had taken its toll on both of them.

Yin's head nodded down in fatigue. Her muddy hair brushed against Hei's jacket, smearing dirt all over the lapel. Hei looked at her wearily. It was obvious they wouldn't be able to continue running. And that meant that they would inevitably be found and killed. They had too many people searching for them; staying in one place for too long was certain death.

Yin's head jerked up slightly as she struggled to stay awake, but it drooped against Hei's jacket again as her exhaustion won over her. Hei's eyebrows pulled together as he watched her. She couldn't let herself fall asleep because she knew of the danger they were in. But there was nothing she could do about it. There was not even much he could do. If she was awake, she could search for the people following them, but he was in no shape to fight anyone off. The outcome would be the same no matter what they did. It was a depressing thought.

But at the same time, it was oddly liberating one. Since it didn't matter what they did, they could finally stop and rest, after years of being on the run. Yin should be able to rest in peace for once, not struggling to stay awake. He felt a strange, sudden urge to comfort her; to tell her that everything would be alright. Even if it would be a lie, maybe it could put her at ease. He put his arms around Yin, and pulled her gently towards him into a hug.

Yin's eyes opened slowly and she blinked languorously in surprise. "Hei." The voice was less robotic than usual. More soft.

"Rest. And…" he hesitated, but couldn't bring himself to lie. She wasn't stupid; she knew their situation wasn't good. He changed what he had been about to say. "If you have anything else you want to tell me, don't keep it in. Just say it."

Yin closed her eyes; her head pillowed against his arm.

A peaceful quiet descended upon them with the lone exception of the crickets chirping in the background. The hypnotic sound was soothing, but Hei couldn't stop himself from being alert. Whether it would make a difference or not, he couldn't let his guard down. It was ingrained in him after years of being on the run, and his throbbing foot only served to remind him of that hard-earned experience.

Yet here he was, trying to be some comfort to Yin in a situation where, if it was indeed a Contractor chasing them as Yin had reported earlier, they had a small chance of survival. His chances of successfully assassinating the Elric brothers, as he had originally planned, were infinitesimal at this point.

So why? When was the last time he had tried to reassure someone without it providing any benefit to him? He wracked his brains, but couldn't come up with anything. It had to have been when he was still human. Even though his Contract's demand of rationality had been weakening for a while now, he still tended to act logically most of the time. This sort of behavior was a huge change for him.

So maybe Yin had been right. Maybe they were changing back to being true humans. And, he realized, that could be another possible reason he hadn't been able to electrocute that Lieutenant earlier. Maybe it hadn't been some outside force stopping him from using his powers. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he had lost his powers just when he wanted to electrocute the Lieutenant. Maybe he was just starting to lose his ability to use electrical alchemy in exchange for the capability to be illogical.

But if that was the case… somehow he couldn't feel irritated about the trade. Yin's steady breathing as she rested was strangely consoling. Despite years of experience telling him that this was no time to take a break, he felt himself calming down, relaxing despite the pain he was in. It was a nice feeling, being able to stop and rest, if just for a moment.

Yin suddenly broke the silence when she whispered. "I want to stay with Hei forever. Just like this."

_Bodies piled like a small hill… The unbearable stench of rotting corpses as a dead Doll stared blankly at nothing… His sister bleeding in his arms…A blond woman with golden eyes smiled at him._

No matter how much he wanted to stop the life he was leading and just rest with Yin, he would never be able to. He would never be able to live a normal life.

"Nothing lasts forever."

A twig snapped ominously under the foot of an approaching stranger, accentuating Hei's words. The halves of the stick floated away on the water, drifting apart.


	13. Moonlight

A/N: In honor of the OVA, a Hei and Yin flashback! Well, not really. This is actually an important flashback plot-wise… Plus I wrote it over a month before the OVA came out. :P

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Darker than BLACK

* * *

Hei's head snapped up as he heard a twig snap in half.

"What is it," murmured Yin sleepily as she rested against him. She struggled to open her heavy eyelids, but to no avail.

"Nothing," said Hei composedly. He looked around nervously; all his previous irrational relaxation had drained away in an instant, and every muscle was still taut in response to the threat. "It probably was just an animal."

"Oh…" Yin's voice drifted off as her mouth slacked and she fell back asleep.

Hei continued to scan the surrounding bush vigilantly. Not that either of them could do anything if an enemy attacked them. Both of them could barely move, let alone defend themselves. He had no weapons, and he wouldn't use electricity with Yin being as soaked as she was. They were stuck, and all they could do was wait.

At least Yin could rest a bit longer, even if his short break was over. She desperately needed every bit she could get. She was so frail. Her skin was a sun-deprived, washed-out white; with her silver hair, it almost looked like she had been bleached out. Her bones were also jutting out a little more than he would like—he didn't exactly earn much money doing all the odd jobs he picked up as they moved from assassination target to assassination target. Despite what he had implied to Mustang during his interrogation earlier, he was self-employed. He didn't get payment for taking out his targets, so almost all the money he scrounged up from whatever odd jobs he could get went into rent and food. And unfortunately, his nearly inhuman appetite made even paying for those essentials much more difficult. Once, he had tried to cut back on his food intake to save money, but then Yin had started claiming that she wasn't hungry either. Eventually, it had gotten to the point where she refused to eat until he had eaten his fill, and he had given in.

Yin certainly was willful for a Doll. She had resisted what had been done to her from the beginning, and lately, she seemed to be winning. Even so, it had taken a long time for him to be completely positive she was starting to regain her emotions. He still vividly remembered the day he had been convinced without a doubt that she could feel. It had been when his Contract had first started weakening as well.

It almost seemed like a different era. Everything was so different now.

He looked up and saw a silvery light filtering through the trees and the clouds. Just like then.

* * *

_Hei was working as a cleaning man for a wealthy family in Central City, the Armstrongs. They paid generously and provided boarding in one of the many rooms in the mansion for him and Yin. It was a good job to have for the time being, and it was an ideal place to watch his target, who lived in a somewhat smaller mansion a couple miles away. His target, General Closson, visited the Armstrong mansion frequently; according to the whispers of the other cleaning staff, he wanted to establish connections with one of the richest families in Amestris. Years ago, Hei had seen General Closson frequently around the lab, making suggestions to the researchers about what the military wanted in a Contractor. He had been one of the researchers' advisors around the time Yin was 'created'._

_Hei paused for a moment in mopping the floor. He hated that man, he hated them all. Hate was rational after all they had done to them; his Contract allowed him that much. But what it didn't allow was a full-out rage, or any anger-provoked action that was irrational. Right now, he couldn't even make a slightly irritated face. It might've unnecessarily alarmed one of the maids also mopping nearby. In a way it was sad, Hei thought to himself as he obeyed the familiar pull of his Contract telling him to keep mopping—stopping was illogical as it would draw unnecessary attention to himself. Maybe he and Yin could've somehow been able to live a normal life if not for his Contract. Everyone involved with the Gate project would always be demanding for his capture until he finally died. Therefore, it was logical to kill off his pursuers for his and Yin's own safety. If he wasn't a rational Contractor, maybe he would've been able to convince himself that he and Yin could find a safe place. Maybe they could've managed to escape the bloodbath that seemed to follow him everywhere, at least for a couple of years. But, his logical side told him, that would only be a short time, and then they would surely be captured and killed. The only way to survive was to kill._

"_Mr. Li?" asked one of the maids. "Are you feeling alright? You look pale."_

_He looked up into the eyes of the concerned girl, who blushed furiously and looked away quickly. His Contract compelled him to give the girl a gentle smile before he could even consider how he was feeling. A fake smile. "I'm fine, thank you, Miss," he said shyly._

"_O-o-okay," stuttered the girl. She had turned a deep crimson. The other maids watched them with smug grins, and one elbowed the girl with a suggestive look on her face when she rejoined them._

_Hei heard laughing as he returned to mopping. The Contract still kept the smile plastered to his face. Better to make the maids less suspicious. After all, how could a smiling, shy, cleaning man who had a crush on one of the maids be a murderer?_

_He wanted to feel disgusted with himself, but he couldn't._

"_Li!" Hei looked up at the distinctive, booming voice of the only son of the Armstrong family, Alex Louis Armstrong. The corners of his mouth moved upwards, like puppets on a string. He gave a short bow to the tall man._

"_How can I help you, sir?"_

"_No need for that, no need for that," said a smiling Armstrong, indicating Hei's bowing form. "I was just wondering if you and Miss Kirsi would care to join us for dinner tonight?"_

"_Me? And Kirsi?" His look of surprise was at least partly genuine. Why them and none of the other servants? Had they been found out?_

"A GIRL?_" burst out the maid who had been blushing earlier. The blush returned in full force as she realized the rudeness of her outburst and she covered her mouth in mortification. "I'm sorry—I mean—"_

"_Ho ho!" chuckled Armstrong. "Not to worry! Miss Kirsi is his cousin."_

_Hei nodded pleasantly at the lie. Here he was known as Li, who had come from Xing to bring his sickly cousin, Kirsi, to see a doctor. Li had to work full time to pay for Kirsi's doctor visits. Luckily, no one had questioned the fact that he and Yin looked nothing alike—Yin's parents had come from a tiny country on the border between Drachma and Creta, and his had been from Xing. _

"_Why us, sir?" Hei asked. The Contract forced a tinge of awe into his voice._

"_Yours is such a touching tale! You've been working so hard to take care of your cousin!" beamed Armstrong, tears in his eyes. "So I thought you would like a little break. I will even be cooking! I assure you, the art of culinary expertise has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!"_

_Hei smiled wider at Armstrong. "I would be honored, sir."_

_The rest of the day passed normally, and when his shift was over he trudged up to his and Yin's quarters. He opened the exquisitely crafted door, his slight smile still in place. By the time he had closed the door behind him, it had disappeared. Finally, his Contract allowed him to be himself. Yin was a Doll; it was impossible for her to have a will of her own. She couldn't betray him no matter what he did, so around her he could be himself. His Contract almost never forced him to act when he was with her. When he was with Yin, it was almost as if he wasn't a Contractor anymore._

"_I'm back, Yin," he directed his quiet voice towards the bed where she sat so that she would know it was him. She acknowledged his presence by slightly tilting her head downwards. A nod._

_He started taking off his jacket with a small sigh. "We're going to have dinner with the Armstrong family tonight."_

_Yin stared straight ahead, her expression stationary. Hei looked at her to see if she would react. She didn't. He closed his eyes._

_Her price was so much worse than his. While his own will was sometimes overrun by the urge to be rational, she never would be able to make a decision by herself. And even when ordered she still couldn't perform the most basic, everyday tasks. Not to mention he still had feelings and she didn't._

_But… she wasn't satisfied with just being a Doll, he knew. She had expressed several times the desire to be able to feel again. Hei's eyes opened with a snap as he remembered seeing earlier that day the only other thing that Yin had ever seemed to want._

"_Yin. I saw a piano in one of the rooms I was cleaning today."_

_Yin blinked in response. She slowly got up from sitting on the bed and felt around, trying to get to the door._

_Hei watched the deceivingly simple action of Yin standing up and walking, wide-eyed. Yin had made a decision to go to the piano. By herself. _

_Yin's reaching hand patted the air near him, and he reached out to hold her hand. His Contract protested that it was unnecessary to help Yin, but as it wasn't exactly irrational, he successfully resisted its compulsion. His fingers closed around her wrist, and he tugged her gently towards him. "This way." He led her out of the room carefully, maneuvering to avoid the furniture. Out into the hall, down past a couple of doors… He slowed and carefully helped her down, step by step, as they reached the stairs. After the harrowing spiral staircase that seemed determined to make Yin trip, they finally reached the piano room._

_Yin stood in the doorway as she gazed at the piano as if she could actually see it. Hei thought that there was something different about her as she stood, framed by the detailed woodwork of the entryway. Something intangible had changed about her as soon as he had mentioned the piano. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, or if it was good or bad, but something… something told him that things would be different from now on._

_He led Yin up to the piano. She used her free hand to reach out, feeling for the piano bench, before slowly lowering herself into the seat. She ran her free hand up and down the leather seat reverently, and as Hei let go of her other hand, she ran her fingertips along the dark wood of the piano. Yin held her position for a moment, as if entranced, and then raised both of her hands in front of her, hovering above the piano keys. As if waiting for something._

_Hei realized she was waiting for an order to play. He smiled sadly. Despite his earlier premonition that Yin was evolving, Yin could not change what she was. She would never be able to make any significant decisions by herself. "Go on, Yin. Play."_

_The hands slowly lowered to settle into a major chord. The rich sound of the piano reverberated off the walls shortly before ending in a silence that seemed to ring. Yin stared ahead, seemingly mesmerized by the sound. Slowly she played the chord again, again, speeding up each time until it flowed until another chord, then another, then a run, then a melody. Then a song._

_The music was haunting, sad. It was beautifully played, but... Hei shifted uneasily. It was making him remember memories he would rather forget. They drifted just out of reach in his mind. He didn't want to remember. But he didn't interrupt her. Yin's eyes had a strange, fevered light to them that he had never seen in her before. He wanted to see if maybe, as Yin had told him before, that playing a song emotionally would invoke that feeling in the player. Maybe playing the piano was her way out. Maybe… she really could change._

_He twitched violently as his Contract resisted his inaction with the equivalent of a wordless scream inside his head. If the song was upsetting him by making him remember things he would rather forget, why should he let it continue? What would Yin changing do for him? Nothing. In fact, this Doll hadn't done anything useful lately. What could she do for him? Nothing worth the effort it took to keep her alive._

No…! _Hei protested inside his head. But his arms were already moving out in front of him, reaching for Yin. Would the Contract make him kill her, or just stop her from playing the song? He couldn't live with himself if it was the former. He had lost everything; Yin was the only thing he had left that kept him going._

_After a slight hesitation, his Contract acquiesced. Killing Yin would indeed be psychologically damaging. So much so that killing her would not be worth it. She could live for now. But the distressing song had to stop._

No._ He fought the Contract's pull to stop the song with everything he had, even though he knew it was useless. His arms wavered in front of him, and a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he battled the urge to stop Yin. She had wanted so long, for years and years, just to be able to play. He shouldn't stop her. _

_Yin continued her poignant song, oblivious to his internal struggle. Her fingers flew over the keys, shaping themselves to form the song as if it was their purpose in life. If Hei was a natural-born killer, as he had been told many times, Yin was a natural at the piano. _

_Suddenly, the overwhelming compulsion to follow the Contract's demand slipped for a fraction of a second, and Hei seized on the opportunity instinctively. Slowly, slowly, his arms lowered. He gazed at his hands in wonder as soon as they were back at his side. He had won. He had never before been able to stop even the most insignificant action his Contract demanded. If it was rational, he had to do it. But this time was different. But why…?_

_Suddenly the song broke off. His eyebrows arched upwards. All that effort to not impede on her playing, and she had stopped herself. "Why did you stop?"_

_The strange light died in Yin's eyes. "It isn't finished."_

"_The song?" Understanding dawned in Hei's eyes. "You composed this? Just now?"_

_Yin nodded mechanically. Hei felt a small ray of hope as she made the decision to get up and walk over to him by herself. Maybe they could change._

"_Ah, what beautiful music! What budding talent!" came a cry from behind Hei. His head whipped around to face the intruder. It was a sobbing Alex Armstrong. Hei's Contract took over again to his chagrin, and the usual, automatic smile grew on his face._

"_Oh. You scared me, sir."_

"_Your cousin has musical talent rivaling that which has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" cried the man. "Truly worthy of a master."_

_Yin stared blindly at her feet and didn't respond. Hei bowed a little. "Thank you, sir."_

"_Where was I, where was I…" said Armstrong grandly as he dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief. "Ah, yes! Dinner is served! This way!" He left the room, still sniffling loudly._

_Hei turned to Yin with that horrible, fake smile on his face as he took her hand. He was almost glad she couldn't see it. "Come on, Kirsi."_

_Yin's eyelids flickered. "Kirsi," she repeated slowly. "My real name."_

_Hei paused, his mouth slightly agape in surprise. With a small shake of his head he closed it. "Yes," he agreed cautiously. Memories of Yin in a cell flitted throughout his mind. "It is."_

"_The last one to call me that was my…mother. You never called me Kirsi before."_

"_That's true. I haven't." He had told the Armstrongs Yin's alias when she wasn't in the room._

_Yin stared off into space. "I was called Kirsi right before my mother died."_

_Hei stared at her. She never, ever talked about herself. Whatever had brought it on, the piano or the mention of her previous name, this was definitely a first. "What…happened to your parents?"_

"_My father died. When I was young. My mother saved me. From a car. I didn't see it," Yin said slowly, haltingly. "All I remember…is being pushed away. The moon was full. I could feel its light."_

_Hei stayed silent._

"_There's a full moon out tonight," Yin observed as they passed by a window on their way to the dining room. "I can tell. Just like then."_

_They walked in silence. The moonlight streamed in from the tall windows, rays of silvery light. It danced in Yin's hair as it swished from side to side, in time with her footsteps. Her bright, silver hair, spun with moonlight, was a stark contrast to his, which swallowed the light hungrily, leaving only darkness in its wake. _

"_Is that what the song was about?" Hei asked quietly. "Your life before they changed you?" The rhythmic patter of her footsteps halted as she stopped walking and stared sightlessly ahead._

"_Yes." She paused and slowly began walking again. "That...and other things. I know they should make me sad. And I know how to play sad. So I thought playing might make me sad." Her flat voice didn't reveal any emotions._

"_Did it work?" he inquired softly. _

"_Here we are!" interrupted Armstrong in a booming voice, indicating a room in not far away. Inside was a long table with a short, bearded man at the head of it. Seated along the table was the rest of the Armstrong family, with the exception of Major General Armstrong, who was at Fort Briggs. There was one man who stood out from the distinctive Armstrong look, and who was chatting with one of the Armstrong daughters. General Closson. _

_Hei's eyes widened and his muscles tensed automatically, although he kept his stance as relaxed as possible. Would the General recognize him? Perhaps not, Hei hadn't been a Contractor while he was in the lab. He had only become a Contractor right after Ishbal, and not by the hands of the government. General Closson had no reason to remember his face. But still, as Hei sat down, he inconspicuously loosed his metal wire that was on the belt hidden under his shirt, and tossed it lightly under the table so it lay against the General's foot. General Closson would probably recognize Yin. _

"_General Closson, this is Li, and his cousin Kirsi," said Armstrong happily._

_Hei waited for the pull of the Contract that would force him to kill the General. But it never came. It was still there, he could 'hear' it telling him to kill. But he didn't feel the incredible compulsion to follow through with its demand. What was going on?_

_As Hei struggled to grasp why he suddenly wasn't being forced to obey his Contract's demand for rationality at the moment, the General turned to greet him, and his eyes widened as he saw Yin standing behind Hei. Hei shook himself mentally and gave the General a fake smile. But this time he was doing it by himself, without the Contract. How could it be so incredibly easy to deceive everyone with just a simple, believable use of facial muscles?_

"_Pleased to meet you, General," said Hei pleasantly as he sent a current through the wire under the table into the General's foot. General Closson immediately froze, eyes bulging. He shook from head to foot as Hei increased the flow of electrons into the wire._

"_General? What's wrong?" asked Hei in a concerned voice. This taunting was completely unnecessary, even irrational, but he had to admit he felt a sick pleasure at slowly killing one of the men who had helped to make his and Yin's life hell. _

"_General!"_

"_General Closson!"_

_The Armstrongs echoed Hei's concern as they rushed to help him._ Too late,_ thought Hei. And sure enough, the General keeled forward, breaking a glass in the process. The shards embedded in his skin, spilling pools of blood onto the thick carpet. _

_Hei saw Yin's observation ghost rise out of the puddle of the spilled drink, unseen by everyone else in the room. Strangely enough, Hei noticed absentmindedly, the specter seemed to have developed a pair of stumps where arms usually were. And it was a bit thinner around where a neck would usually be… Had it been that way before?_

"_You killed him," stated Yin behind him, interrupting his musings, but so quietly he could barely hear her. Hei started slightly as he remembered that he needed to pretend to be distressed at the General's injuries, and he started frantically ripping his shirt to make bandages. As if it would do any good._

"_It's a full moon. Just like then." Yin's voice seemed more dead than usual._

_Hei's glance at her turned into a stare. He sat frozen, watching her with his mouth slightly parted._

_Tears were running down Yin's cheeks. _

"_Just like then."

* * *

_

Hei wrenched himself out of the memory. His muscles were tense, just as they had been then from the stress of murder and the worry of being found out. And he had the same strange lump in his throat from seeing Yin cry.

He leaned his head back onto the tree he was resting against with a sigh. Tonight was a full moon as well. He could see its muted light through the branches overhead. A patch of it shone on Yin, where it blended into Yin's hair as if melded to it. He gazed up at the moon contemplatively. They had changed so much since he had killed General Closson, and that had only been about a year ago. Now he hardly ever was compelled to do anything his Contract ordered him to. He often followed the reasonable voice in the back of his head anyways; it had been what kept him alive for years. But more and more every day, he grew more able to resist the compulsion of the Contract and to decide what to do by himself. And Yin, ever since that day, had been quickly gaining back her humanity, as if her tears had been the trickle of water before a dam burst open.

It was a shame that, after all their progress, they were almost certainly going to be killed.

A shifting stick and a snap of a small branch on a tree brought him out of his reverie. "Who's there?" he questioned hoarsely.

Silence.

"Who's there?" Hei repeated in a harsher voice. "Show yourself!"

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" asked a familiar voice.

November 11.


	14. Meeting

A/N: Sorry this one took a bit longer than usual to upload...

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

November 11.

Hei's eyes narrowed into slits and his arms reflexively tightened around Yin, futilely trying to provide some protection. "How did you find us? I didn't see a Doll's soul anywhere."

"That wasn't a very polite response. You've hurt my feelings," November 11 stated as he approached Hei and Yin. He smiled and pulled a small blond boy with big, gray eyes from out behind him. The boy stood there and stared apathetically ahead. Just like Yin always did.

"This is July," said November 11 with a gesture at the unmoving boy. "His medium is glass. Apparently your Doll has some glass shards in her arm."

_How…? Oh._ He remembered jumping out of a building while trying to escape, glass flying all around them._ When she was injured by that glass a while ago._

"So that Doll managed to be able to use his specter too…" murmured Hei to himself.

"Yes," November 11 replied. "They finally realized that some Dolls could be useful. Ever since then, they've been mass-producing them."

"They're still making Contractors and Dolls," Hei stated quietly.

"Yes, they are," agreed November 11. "Although, you _have_ slowed them down quite a bit. I must say, I'm actually glad you've been doing your best to stop them. I suppose I'm allowed to feel that much. But I've been ordered to capture you. Orders from the top."

"Capture?" repeated Hei cautiously, his eyebrows unconsciously rising despite his attempt to hide his reaction. Was this some sort of trick? "Not kill?"

"Apparently they want to see how you've been acting so irrationally in the first place. That's supposed to be impossible for a Contractor after all. And I'm sure if it _is_ possible, then we'll all be in trouble. The only reason we're following orders is because we're rational beings; we know we'll die otherwise. But if we were illogical humans…" November 11 sighed. "We'd be too unpredictable, especially with what we're capable of. I doubt the military would want to keep us around."

"Then why don't you run while you still can?" queried Hei carefully. This could be their way out. "Escape with us and—"

"Do you really think they would let us go that easily?" said November 11 with a small smile and a shake of his head. "You remember what happened to your sister, don't you?"

_Blood. Blood everywhere. Bai looked up at him with half-lidded eyes slowly closing shut. He tried to staunch the flow of blood from her wound, but—_

"I remember," Hei replied dully. Of course he did. He couldn't forget.

"After you escaped, they decided to borrow your brilliant idea from back in Ishbal and have a couple Dolls watch all of us at all times. One of the Dolls' medium is metal, and they've inserted metal chips into each of us. We can't escape, even with Parcel's power. We'll just have to take our chances that they won't decide to kill us."

Hei looked down, wrestling with an emotion he knew perfectly well was irrational, but one that he could now feel nonetheless. Sympathy. He knew precisely how hard it was to escape from the government, and a Contractor would never be allowed by his Contract to do anything that was excessively dangerous. Taking down minor enemies of the government was perfectly safe compared to evading nearly everyone in the country.

"Speaking of which, why _did _you escape from the government's clutches after Ishbal?" asked November 11 with a curious tilt of his head. "Or rather, how? Running was a completely illogical decision."

Should he just lie? "You don't know the entire story. Running was the most rational choice at the time."

"Hmmm…" said November 11 with his hand to his chin. He nodded slowly. "I suppose that could be."

"But he's acting illogically now!" protested a little girl in a bear suit he hadn't noticed before beside November 11. She pointed at him accusingly. "He's been lugging around that Doll all this time! What's the point in that?"

"I need someone to search for assassination targets." Yin stirred, as if she subconsciously knew that they were talking about her.

"But is it worth risking your life over a spy? It shouldn't be!" argued the girl. "He's changed somehow, and it's putting every Contractor in danger. We should just kill him. If they don't find out that Contractors can change, maybe—"

"And what would be our punishment for disobeying orders, Parcel?" November 11 interrupted the girl sharply. She looked down. They all knew the answer. "Besides, Hei is different. He became a Contractor a lot later than everyone else. Maybe it just affected him differently."

Yet another possible reason for his abnormal behavior as a Contractor. Was some outside force somehow controlling his Contract and electrical powers, was he losing them as a price for gaining back his emotions, or was it just because he was late in becoming a Contractor? Or was it none of the above?

"Alright," muttered Parcel, staring at her feet. "Let's just capture him then."

Hei felt the expected change of temperature as soon as she finished her sentence. He and Yin were now surrounded in a block of ice.

Yin's eyes opened slowly. "Hei. What's going on."

"We're being captured, Yin," Hei informed her calmly as November 11 walked up to them.

She nodded robotically.

"I must say," November 11 said with a slight frown as he stopped in front of the strange pair. "Parcel is right. Why didn't you just electrocute us as soon as you saw us? As a Contractor, only your own survival should matter. Not anyone else, and especially not a Doll."

Hei knew this. He could feel the slight pull of the Contract even now trying to get him to abandon Yin and kill them all. But he could ignore it now. For whatever reason, he could make his own decisions, and he would not leave Yin.

"It's none of your concern," he informed the man calmly. "Your job is only to capture me. As it's already been decided that you won't kill me."

November 11 smiled. "That's better. Seems at the very least you can still understand rational thought." He turned to July, and with a guiding hand on the Doll's back led him over to where Hei and Yin sat imprisoned. The Doll, July, looked up to stoically observe the pair.

Parcel sighed and adjusted her bear ears so they sat better on top of her head. "Alright then. Let's get going."

All light seemed to disappear, and Hei was hurtling through an impenetrable black vortex at breakneck speed. And then, he was suddenly sitting awkwardly within his icy shackles in a familiar, underground prison. It was where he and Bai had spent most of the childhood after Envy had kidnapped them. It looked similar to how it had then—water dripped down the dank stone walls, and the walls were slimy with mold and remnants of moss that had died long ago. Yin sent out her observation specter, illuminating the dark corridor slightly with its faint sheen.

November 11 approached them and touched the ice, which instantly returned to its former liquid state. "This way," said November 11, walking in front of them all authoritatively.

Yin got up painfully slowly, and staggered forward a step. Hei's attempt to walk wasn't much better.

November 11 paused at the lack of footsteps behind him and turned around. "Hm. So you're injured. Whoever did that deserves a reward for managing that, but I'm sure they're dead by now." He tapped his finger to his chin in thought. "Parcel, transport them to the cell a couple of floors up where we put those other prisoners earlier today."

"But if he kills them…!" protested Parcel.

"And why would he do that? He should have no reason to kill them, and they don't have one either, for that matter. We're out of room anyways. All the other cells are filled up for that next big experiment they're about to run, and we need to put them in one of the drier rooms. We don't need to give them any more weapons."

Parcel glared at him, but crossed her arms with a slight pout in a matter of moments. "Alright," she consented with ill grace. "But if this backfires, you're the one who ordered me to do it." She turned around with a sulk and walked up to Hei and Yin. This time Hei could see the dark circle growing rapidly in the palm of her hand before it enveloped both him and Yin. Then, they were hurtling through nothingness yet again.

* * *

"Brother, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine Al."

"But your automail port—"

"It's fine, Al!" snapped Ed in irritation. Al drew back a little. Ed was in a bad mood. He had been like this ever since they had been locked up. "You don't need to look after me like I'm some cripple!"

Al paused and looked at Ed in surprise. Cripple? Ed hated that word. And it was suspiciously familiar.

"Big Brother, you didn't let what that train station guy said before bother you? About you being a cripple?" Al asked warningly. "Because—"

"Who the hell would listen to someone like that?" Ed snorted. Al noticed it seemed a bit too forceful. Especially when he thought he saw something come flying out his nose. Ed hastily wiped his nose. "I mean… I don't even know what you're talking about. And we have more stuff to worry about right now—"

"Don't try to change the subject!" snapped Al. "Did you actually listen to that creep?"

"Of course n—"

"Ed!"

"I didn't. Really, I didn't," Ed said clearly. "I just happened to remember what he said just now."

"Why?" Al demanded angrily. "You don't actually think—"

"No. I don't think that. Because of Winry I can function just fine. It's just… without her here…I can't do anything!" he yelled suddenly with a punch at the ground with his flesh hand. His empty sleeve fluttered from the sudden movement. "I got us captured because I only had one arm! I was useless! If I could have done alchemy like normal, then we wouldn't be here."

"It's not so bad."

"Oh, really?" Ed asked dryly. Even though it was summer, the small stone cell they were in managed to be freezing. Two piles of blankets that functioned as beds took up most of the room in the cell, although they had managed to squeeze a small toilet in the back. At least this cell was dry, unlike the dank, wet rooms he had seen on his way here. And they had light; a torch burned outside in the hallway.

"I'm not talking about the room, Brother. We're alive. For whatever reason, they decided just to imprison us. If we had been able to fight well enough to injure one of them, they might not have been so generous."

Ed exhaled slowly, the anger draining from his features as he sank down onto the bed. "I guess so… but why did they let us live? We already know they have no problem with killing people who oppose them."

"I don't know," sighed Al, sitting down on the bed of blankets opposite of Ed as well. His armor squawked in protest from the movement—he really needed to oil it. "It makes no sense."

They sat in silence, contemplating their situation. Suddenly Ed threw his arm up in frustration. He waved the mitten-like restraint covering his hand at Al. "We're still in such big trouble! How can we escape without alchemy? There's no way I can draw a circle with this thing on. And you can't even clap your hands," he added, eyeing what seemed analogous to giant rubber balls covering Al's hands. "And how will we find Winry? I—" he stopped himself as movement caught his eyes, and he squinted out into the hall. Maybe it was a trick of the wavering torchlight, but he could swear he could see…

"Brother? What is it?"

Ed blinked as what he had been looking at suddenly dissolved into darkness. "That's weird. There was an eye. Right there," he pointed at a spot in the shadows of the corridor. "I'm sure of it."

Al snorted in amusement. "I think it's time for you to get some sleep, Ed. You've had a long day."

"I'm not tired," Ed lied with a grumble.

Al shook his head. "Don't try that on me. Maybe if you get some sleep you'll be in a better mood when you wake up."

"…Fine. Don't believe me. I'm going to bed."

Al chuckled. "Okay, okay."

Ed fell back onto the pile of blankets from where he was sitting. "Geez. Don't know why you would think that…I'm…tiiiiiiirred," he finished with a yawn. Within seconds, he was asleep.

Al laughed softly, but didn't move for fear of waking him with his squeaky armor joints. There wasn't anywhere for him to go anyways. They were stuck in the cell, and would be for a while unless they could think of a way to get out of here. That was the one advantage to not being to sleep—at least he would be able to think of a strategy while Ed was asleep. So… where to begin. Maybe there was a weak spot somewhere in the prison. He looked around. It seemed pretty solid. Except… what was that dark spot? It was growing, and it looked familiar. The light in his armor's eyeholes expanded until it seemed to bulge as Al realized what it was.

"Brother! Ed! Wake up!"

"Mmm…is it morning already?" Ed said sleepily as he turned over and scratched his stomach.

"No! We have company!"

"Company…" Ed mumbled. His eyes snapped open suddenly. "Where?"

Al pointed at the now sizeable black circle. "It's that weird girl from before."

Ed threw himself off the pile of blankets just as the object of their worries appeared, along with two other people. One was a tall, thin, Xingese man with jet black hair and cold, dark-blue eyes, and the other was a petite, silver-haired girl. They were both covered in mud.

"Why are you here?" growled Ed to the girl in the bear suit. "And who are they?"

The girl, Parcel, ignored him. "You'll be staying here," she told the pair she had just brought into the cell. "Testing will start tomorrow."

The glare the man gave her sent chills down Ed's spine. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Parcel seemed unaffected. "Don't think you can escape like you did before," she told him, wagging a finger at him. "Now you're surrounded and injured. Running would be suicide. Be logical like you're supposed to be, and this'll turn out better for everyone."

"Hey!" yelled Ed. "Where's Winry? Where'd you put her?"

Parcel glanced up, and collapsed backwards onto the sheets opposite Ed with a huff. "Geez. You're all so protective. It makes no sense. Just look after yourself, that's all you need to do in life."

"Don't be talking like you know everything," Ed ground out. "You're even younger than me! And I don't care if you can do that black-circle-transport-thing. Don't think you're all wise because you can do alchemy." Alchemy had been involved in all his and Al's stupidest mistakes in life, after all.

Parcel stared at him for a second and then grinned. "That's true." She sat up and put her hands carefully behind her head so that she didn't knock the bear ears off of her head. "Alright then. She's in the cell next to you."

Ed paused, mouth already open for a retort. "Wait…what?"

"That girl. They put her in the cell over there," Parcel said, taking one of her hands from around her head and pointing it to her right. She seemed to be enjoying Ed's flabbergasted expression.

"Uh… thanks," Ed said in a stunned voice. "But is she okay?"

"She seemed fine when I last saw her," shrugged Parcel as her hand returned to its former position behind her head. "She was crying, but that was it." Ed grimaced. He had made her cry again.

"Why are you telling us this?" Al asked in bewilderment. "Aren't you with the Fuhrer and everyone else?"

"Yep!" nodded Parcel emphatically, but hurriedly stopped as her bear ears almost flopped off her head. She took a moment to steady them. "But it's not like you can get out of here anyways. And I wasn't ordered not to tell you or anything."

From behind her the Xingese man narrowed his eyes. "So despite all that talk about being proud of being a Contractor, you're also trying to escape your Contract."

"Huh?" Parcel asked him absentmindedly as she continued to arrange her bear ears into a more stable position on her head.

"You're trying to disobey the military however you can. That's not rational."

She froze, and her arms fell to her side.

"Uh…what?" Ed asked looking from Parcel to Hei. "What's a Contractor?"

Parcel shook her head repeatedly, ears flopping wildly. "You're wrong. I'm rational. All the time." She spared a nervous glance outside the cell.

The Xingese man glared down at her. _He looks like a serial killer_, Ed thought with narrowed eyes. This wasn't someone he would've liked to be paired up with in this small cell.

Parcel took a breath and composed herself. "Look," she said firmly, pointing her finger at Hei authoritatively. "If I somehow wasn't a Contractor anymore, if I wasn't one-hundred-percent logical, I'd have been killed already! So there!"

Hei didn't answer, and Parcel crossed her arms a bit rebelliously. "Well… fine then. I'm going. I'll be picking you up tomorrow night to bring you over to the lab."

She disappeared with the dark circle, and Ed stared at the dangerous-looking man. "Uh…so—"

"Yin," the man said, completely ignoring him. The girl beside him looked up. She was swaying on her feet. He grabbed her hand and limped over to the pile of blankets Ed had just vacated.

"Hey!" he protested automatically as the man pushed roughly past him. The man gave him another death-glare, and he gulped. "Geez, what's his problem," Ed muttered to himself as he backed off to sit beside Al on the opposite bed. "I didn't do anything."

Al sighed and whispered to Ed, "Big Brother, you have no tact. Let me handle this." He extended his hand to the man now right across him. "Nice to meet you, Mister…?"

The man didn't answer, but just watched the girl climb onto the bed, as if worried that she would fall.

"Um…?" Al asked hesitantly.

"Wow. So tactful, Al. Even you pissed this guy off," Ed whispered with a snicker to Al.

"No! I didn't do anything!" Al whispered back with a huff.

"That's what I said."

"He's just helping out that girl. Don't be so rude."

"He's Hei," interrupted the girl suddenly, who was now lying down on the bed. "And I'm Yin." She struggled to lift herself up, and the man limped closer to help her. "Hello."

The man, Hei, seemed surprised that she had spoken, but turned and nodded to them in greeting.

"About time," grumbled Ed quietly.

"Hello, Yin," said Al politely. "I'm Alphonse. And this is Big Brother—I mean—this is Ed."

"Hey! Don't you start introducing me as Big Brother to other people! I have a name you know!" Ed protested grumpily.

Al would have put his hand to his face if it wasn't covered in the rubber ball. He couldn't wait for Ed to get over this bad mood. "I know, I just—"

Neither of the squabbling brothers noticed that Hei's wide-eyed expression had frozen onto his face during Al's introduction of Ed. Or that forgotten memories had of their own volition swam to the surface of Hei's mind, paralyzing him.

_Big Brother…?_


	15. An Almost Murder

A/N: I tried to put the chapter out early this week, but... it kept messing up for some reason. Sorry about that. Hopefully it'll actually load this time. :(

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

_Bai._

_ She was right there. He could see her; she was almost close enough to touch. He reached out, grasping at the empty air in front of him. Wait…what? Why was it empty? She was right there, right? _

_No. She was farther away than he thought. Much too far away. In fact…where was she? He couldn't see her anymore. Had she disappeared? His eyes widened as he remembered. That's right. Bai was gone. She couldn't be here. Then why—_

_ A screeching noise interrupted his thoughts. Bai was screaming, a shrill wail that cut through him like a knife. It was like nails on a chalkboard, metal slowly grinding against metal… He covered his ears. It hurt. Everything hurt. Bai was gone; nothing was left except for the sound of her screams in his ears. He couldn't tell if the screaming was real, or if it was just a vivid memory. Sometimes it was hard to tell memories and reality apart. Sometimes reality seemed more dreamlike than his actual dreams. Maybe it was all just a dream._

_ "Big Brother!" screamed Bai in her awful, screechy voice. "Big Brother! Big Brother!" He pressed his hands harder against his ears, but it didn't seem to diminish the sound at all._

_ "Stop!" he begged Bai. "Stop! I tried to help you. I didn't want you to die. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He barely knew what he was saying, but he kept babbling in hope that the pain would go away. It was useless. The pain would never disappear. In fact it was growing, and the screeching grew louder—_

"Hey! Mister, uh… Mr. Hei! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"

Hei woke up with a start and lunged forward with the intention to either stop the screaming or run to the nonexistent Bai, he didn't know which. Then he realized that neither was here, although he felt like his ears were still ringing from the unearthly shrieking. He was in a bed with the sheets wrapped in a tangle around him. Yin was still asleep beside him, but she was shivering from the chill of the cell.

He let out a slow sigh, trying to calm his racing heart. He was soaked in sweat, but it was just another nightmare. It wasn't real.

The scream returned for a fraction of a second, and Hei started, eyes wide. Was he still asleep?

"Oh. Uh, sorry about that," said the armored man, Al, with a nervous laugh. "I really need to give the armor a good oiling. It's been making these horrendous noises every time I move."

Hei nodded weakly. So that had been what the screaming was in his dream. But his heart didn't listen to reason and continued to gallop at a ridiculously fast pace. He probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep again tonight.

"Is anyone else awake?" he asked Al hoarsely without looking at him. He licked his cracked lips absentmindedly as his dry mouth reminded him that he hadn't had nearly enough water the past couple of days. A twinge from his stomach chimed in to say that food would also be greatly appreciated.

"No, just us. It's pretty early in the morning. Sorry about waking you, but you were thrashing around in your sleep pretty badly. It looked like you might hit that girl, so…"

Hei gave him a slight nod and stared straight ahead, just concentrating on breathing slowly. In… Out… In… Out… In… Bai was gone. Out… But she had been for years. In… He would never see her again. Out… But he wasn't alone anymore. He had Yin.

Yin. He looked over to his companion, who had curled up in her sleep in a futile attempt to ward off the cold. He extricated himself from the wad of blankets and sheets that he had accumulated around him during the nightmare, and carefully laid them on top of her. It would be a bad time for Yin to get sick now.

"Thank you," said Hei when he had finished tucking the blankets around the sleeping Yin. He still didn't look directly at Al, and despite the kind words, his voice was ice-cold, almost insincere. "For waking me up."

"Uh, no problem," replied Al, sounding a little confused. "I'm just glad you didn't accidentally hurt that girl… Yin, was that her name? You seem to be pretty worried about her, so…" The armor screeched in protest as Al reached up to awkwardly scratch the back of his helmet. Hei winced inwardly. It sounded so much like the scream in his dream. "Don't worry about it."

"I won't," replied Hei frostily as he continued to stare at the wall.

This was the illogical response, he knew. He needed to get on the armored man's good side; he should be pretending to be welcoming and friendly. But… it didn't feel right. Besides, he reasoned with himself, Al would be suspicious if his personality suddenly switched to a friendly one.

_Why are you hesitating…? _His Contract asked him. _You could say you were tired or upset about being captured. This one's naïve. He wouldn't suspect anything._

_I just don't want to,_ Hei told the Contract. _Maybe… precisely because he seems naïve. I doubt he would suspect anything even if I acted like my normal self. _

The Contract gave the equivalent of a 'hmph!' inside his head. _But there's no reason to make him more suspicious._

_I'd like to try to trust these two. _Hei thought to himself, and was surprised at the thought.

_Why? _Was the question his or his Contract's? He didn't know himself.

"Sorry." Al's quiet voice broke in through his thoughts. Hei realized that he had been staring at the wall for a while now. "I don't know the circumstances that brought you here, but… I guess you want to be alone. That's alright. I'm going to look around the cell for weak spots, if that's okay with you."

Hei nodded slightly but jumped once again as the nightmare scream permeated the room.

"Stupid armor," muttered Al from behind him. "Can't even stand up without it making noises—"

"Take it off," Hei growled through gritted teeth. "Get out of the armor if it's going to make that sound."

"What?" replied Al. "But…is it really that loud? Anyways, I can't—" the armor squealed hideously again as he took a step forward. And another.

_Big Brother! Big Brother!_ He could hear it. In every step, every shriek of the unoiled joints, he could hear Bai screaming out in pain. "Stop it!" he barked.

"Sorry! I-I didn't mean—"

"What's going on?" said the sleepy voice of the other brother, Ed.

"It's nothing, Big Brother. Go back to sleep. It's just the armor joints acting up again. I told you we shouldn't have gotten that cheap oil!"

"Hey, it was a good bargain," said Ed as he sat up from the pile of blankets that was the bed and rubbed his eyes with his flesh knuckles.

"But now they're all squeaky."

"Well, you should've oiled them more then," Ed protested grumpily. "Too late now." He stretched and gave a huge yawn. "I don't mind the squeakiness anyways."

"I do," Hei growled.

"Whoah! You're awake too!"

"Obviously, Big Brother. Can you do some alchemy to fix it up for now?"

"No!" Ed grumbled. "Our hands are all bound up, remember?" He nodded towards the mitten-like restraints they both had on that didn't even let them move their fingers. "Can't even try to draw a circle!" He kicked at the solid stone ground. "And I doubt we'd be able to carve one with our feet or something."

"Oh yeah. Sorry, Mr. Hei. Nothing I can do, but I'll try not to move too much." Al walked back towards the makeshift bed Ed was on, his armor screeching all the way. "So, Big Brother, I—"

_Big Brother! Big Brother!_

So that was why he didn't want to deceive these brothers.

It was because they reminded Hei of him and Bai. Before everything went wrong, he and his sister had also been close, and Bai had called him Big Brother… What did this say about him? He was being oddly sentimental over a memory. He leaned his head back up against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. Because that's all Bai was now. A memory.

* * *

"Colonel Mustang? Colonel Mustang, sir?"

"Huh?" grunted Mustang as his head jerked up and he blinked sleepily at the person speaking to him. He hastily shut his still slack-jawed mouth and wiped the drool off his chin—both had been a result from his nap in the chair he was now sitting in. He must have been exhausted to fall asleep like this, Mustang thought to himself. Not only was the chair prickly and uncomfortable, but—

"Colonel Mustang, sir? Visiting hours are over; they were over a couple hours after you brought those two in. I'm sorry, but it's time for you to go home."

"Can you make an exception?" asked Mustang hopefully. "I can stay the rest of the night to make sure they're alright, and—"

"I'm sorry sir, but no. It's against hospital policy. Don't worry, both of your subordinates will probably last the night, at the very least."

Only_ probably_ last the night? Then he was definitely staying!

"Listen, Miss. I've been Lieutenant Hawkeye's and Second Lieutenant Havoc's commanding officer for years. I went through Ishbal with Lieutenant Hawkeye. I could tell if there was anything wrong. And for Second Lieutenant—"

"I'm sorry, sir," said the nurse who talking to him. Mustang felt vaguely irritated at the fact that she seemed truly sympathetic. "But you can't stay. We'll have trained nurses be watching both of them all night. They'll be here when you come back tomorrow."

_But you can't guarantee that, can you?_ thought Mustang to himself as he got up. _Not that it's her fault. I got them both into this situation. I'm a lousy commanding officer; I couldn't keep either of my subordinates safe._

It couldn't hurt to try one more time. He looked at her straight in the eyes. "Please, Miss," he asked the nurse, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice. "They're both in critical condition. How would it hurt to have one more person watching them?"

The nurse wavered on the spot, clearly torn. Then, she sighed. "I'll go ask the doctor. If he says no, though, that's it."

Mustang nodded in gratitude. "Thank you." She nodded in reply and walked off, her heels clicking against the tile floor.

Mustang returned his attention to his two severely injured subordinates. Havoc was the better off of the two, although that wasn't saying much. His face was a pasty gray, and there was a good chance that he could have an infection since… Mustang swallowed past the lump in his throat as he looked at the empty space in the sheets where Havoc's feet should be. Havoc's legs were gone; broken off from the most severe case of frostbite the doctor had ever seen. The stumps that remained had been blackened as well, and according to the doctor, it was unlikely that Havoc would be able to get automail. He would probably never walk again.

Mustang closed his eyes for a moment. Why had he left Havoc by himself? Those two strangers must have been alchemists, to do that sort of damage. He had been so worried about the Lieutenant, that he had made another one of his soldiers become irreparably injured.

And Lieutenant Hawkeye…Her unnaturally still form was even more unnerving than Havoc's. She had external and internal electrocution burns all over her body, and it seemed that if she ever woke up from her coma, she could have permanent heart damage. Or even worse, brain damage… Mustang interlinked his hands in front of him and squeezed them tightly, as if in prayer. Almost certainly both of his subordinates would have to retire if they even managed to survive… what could they do? One was now physically disabled, and Lieutenant Hawkeye might even end up being…

"Colonel Mustang?" asked the doctor kindly, who entered in after the nurse. "I understand you want to stay with these two. Shouldn't you be getting some rest? It is very late after all, and you'll need to sleep sometime. Even if you come back tomorrow, you can't stay awake forever."

"I understand," answered Colonel Mustang quietly. "I won't ask this of you anymore after this. But please, they were just injured. I don't want to just drop them off and leave them. I'll leave after visiting hours tomorrow."

"Do you have leave from work?"

"No, but I'll make sure to get some tomorrow. I haven't had a vacation in a while, so it should go through."

The doctor looked at Mustang over his glasses and sighed. "Very well. But only for tonight."

"Thank you very much, Doctor."

"I'll be sending in some nurses in a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on them until them."

Mustang nodded and returned his attention to the two hospital beds. The truth was, he wanted to leave this place more than anything right now. He wanted to escape from what he had done, what his commands had inflicted on two of his most trusted subordinates. But he couldn't, and wouldn't. This was his responsibility—he had done this, and he would support them, even if they stayed unconscious forever, until the very end.

And to think, all of this had started because he wanted revenge on Hughes's murderer…

* * *

The flickering light from the torch outside the cell continued throughout the rest of Hei's sleepless night. The way the light made people seem to be there and then not gave a dreamlike feel to the whole situation. Of course, the occasional squeak from Al's armor didn't help the situation. Maybe he was still dreaming; he was sure he could still hear Bai's screams in each squeak of the armor.

The brothers also chatted about meaningless things throughout the night, as if they were at a slumber party, and not being held prisoner with an uncertain fate. Hei, on the other hand, lied down next to Yin, and stared at the inside of his eyelids or the ceiling. He had known that sleep would evade him once he woke up, and he had been correct. He listened to the boys' conversation to pass the time as he waited for Yin to wake up (or maybe for him to wake up himself).

"So why do you think they gave us so few blankets in someplace this cold?" asked Ed detachedly. "If they really are running human experiments like we heard, then wouldn't they want their test subjects to be in the best condition possible?"

"Yeah…" mused Al. "And it wouldn't cost that much more either…"

"Hmph," grunted Ed. "So the Fuhrer is a cheapskate deep down."

"Maybe they just want to demoralize the prisoners?"

"Well, that's not going to happen with me!"

"It better not," Al agreed. "Or you're going to have to deal with me!"

"Yeah yeah," Ed said in exasperation. "Sometimes you sound like you're my mom, Al!" Ed suddenly fell quiet as if he had said something forbidden. Al also stayed quiet, and they sat in silence.

Ed cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well… um… what do you think of our cellmates?"

"I don't really know about the girl, we only saw her awake for a couple of minutes, remember?" Al said quickly as if he too wanted to get away from their previous topic.

"But what about that Xingese guy?"

"Well, I know that now you won't be able to refer to Ling as 'that Xingese guy' anymore, Ed. You're going to get them confused."

"Hey!"

"Okay, okay. I didn't really get a reading on him either… I have no idea if he's trustworthy or not. He was having a pretty bad nightmare earlier though."

"Huh…"

Hei turned his attention away from the conversation before he had to listen to anymore such speculation, and returned his focus to staring at the inside of his eyelids.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Yin woke up. Hei whipped his head around to see if she was unharmed after her exhaustion last night, and saw her staring blindly back at him. Her half-lidded eyes reflected the torch light, seemingly emotionless, just like always. Nothing seemed fake about Yin. There was something… comforting…about that. He finally felt cemented in reality, and his nervousness melted away. Of course he wasn't still in the nightmare—why had he thought that in the first place? Al got up as he saw Hei's sudden movement and his armor, predictably, squeaked. But it was just a noise. Why had he been so upset about it earlier?

"Hei," said Yin robotically. "Is that you."

"Yin," Hei acknowledged her as he sat up. "You're up."

Yin's eyes moved blindly around as she tried in vain to see. "There's no water. Where are we."

"We're back at the lab," Hei informed her tiredly. "We were caught."

Her mouth fell agape a bit, but she gave no other indication to what she was feeling. "Oh."

"Do you remember?"

"Yes. There were other people in the cell. Where."

"They're right across from you."

"Oh." Yin sat up slowly, and reached out towards Hei's voice. Hei grabbed her hand and helped her up; slowly, swayingly, she got on her feet. She took a cautious step forward.

"There's nothing in your way for a couple of steps," Hei informed her.

Yin took several more confident steps and then stopped. She turned her face towards Hei expectantly.

"Um… we're right in front of you, Yin," Alphonse told her a bit awkwardly. He had stopped his conversation with Ed to watch her get up. "I'm Alphonse, and this is Edward."

Hei's eyes narrowed. They had said their names before, but… something was stirring in his memory. Where had he heard those names before…? In the papers, maybe?

Yin turned towards his voice, and noted monotonously. "Yes. I remember." She nodded to them. "Hello."

"I'm Ed," Ed spoke up. "Uh…hi."

Yin stared straight past him and nodded. She noticeably wobbled on her feet at the slight movement.

"Are you okay, Yin?" asked Hei almost forgetting his previous train of thought. His eyebrows furrowed at her nod. "You weren't yesterday, and you ended up passing out. Don't hide it."

Yin stayed silent for a moment, then said dully, "I don't feel sick. Just tired."

"You can take some of our blankets if you need to, Yin," Al offered. "Ed doesn't need all of them."

Ed nodded in agreement, but hastily stopped himself when he realized that Yin couldn't see it. "Yeah," he assented belatedly instead. "It'll just be me sleeping in them anyways."

"Why."

"Huh?"

"Why. Your brother doesn't sleep in a bed," asked Yin tediously.

"Uh…no he doesn't. It's a sort of… disability he has. He doesn't sleep," Ed admitted uncomfortably. "We'd rather not talk about it."

Hei's head snapped up as all the pieces fell into place. _Sleep… a disability… a payment!_ These two… were the Elric brothers.

"Is that what he lost to the Gate?" Hei cut in, his voice suddenly frigid despite the fact that his expression stayed stoic. Ed blinked in surprise at the abrupt tone change. "His ability to sleep?"

They all were enveloped in silence as the impact of Hei's words hit the brothers. Suddenly Ed spluttered, "But—how—"

"How did I know?" finished Hei icily. "You don't need a transmutation circle to do alchemy, do you?"

"No, but—"

"Only those who've seen the Gate can do alchemy without a circle. Can you perform all alchemy normally by clapping your hands, or just one branch of alchemy?"

"W-what—I—of course we can do alchemy normally! Why do you ask—"

"So you really have seen the entire Gate, then," growled Hei. His previous irrational desire to trust these boys was quickly wearing off. _Do they even realize what that means?_ "Have you ever heard the term human sacrifice before?"

"Yeah," Ed said, eyes wide in astonishment. "But—"

"How do you know so much?" finished Al, who seemed just as surprised. "About us not needing a transmutation circle, about the Gate—everything!"

"Your actions will be the death of this entire country!" snapped Hei; his indifferent mask cracked to reveal some of the anger boiling underneath. _So they knew!_ The brothers stepped back unconsciously. "They're planning something, I don't know what, but it involves using you to kill everyone!" Hei's arm shot out and grabbed Ed's head.

"Whoah!" Al shouted in alarm. "What—"

"I should just kill you, right now," spat Hei. He should.

The blond boy he was about to kill glared at him. "Look, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but get your hand off my head. _Now_."

"That doesn't matter," Hei replied as the bluish glow that preceded his use of electrical alchemy started to emanate from him. He _would_ kill these boys. "As soon as you saw the Truth, you condemned over fifty million people to death." He initiated the alchemy, but—

Suddenly—he couldn't perform the alchemy. He tried, straining to override whatever force was blocking him from electrocuting this boy, but he couldn't. _Again? But why...?_

He felt a tug on his sleeve. "Hei." _Yin? _He whipped around, taking his arm off the boy's head as he did so to face her. So…it had been Yin who had been somehow stopping him from using alchemy. He had to get her to let him kill the boys for both their sakes.

He glared at her furiously. "Yin, don't stop me. You know what'll happen if they stay alive."

"I'm not stopping you."

"Then what—" He stopped as he caught a flash of blue out of the corner of his eyes, and he spun around again to meet it—but there was nothing.

"What was that?" exclaimed the blond boy, Ed. "What was that person-shaped thing? What's going on? I thought you were going to kill me!"

_A person? _He caught another flash of blue in his peripheral vision, but when he turned, nothing was there.

"Hei. What's going on."

"You can't… see me?" asked Hei incredulously. "But how…?"_ Then…that thing wasn't her specter? What was it?_

"Wait, what? I thought she was blind!" Al put in confusedly.

Hei glanced at them in annoyance and narrowed his eyes. _What _is_ going on…? I'd like to know that myself._

"Hei."

He hesitated, and then sighed. So it seemed that it had been some outside force, whatever the blue thing had been, that was manipulating his ability to do alchemy after all. He would have to wait until he was healed enough to kill the brothers without alchemy... As he was now, he highly doubted he would be able to pull it off. Despite the pair's naivety, he somehow doubted that they wouldn't put up a good fight if he attacked them. And with his foot as it was, he could barely walk, much less fight... It wasn't a good situation at all, but he would figure something out. They would have to lower their guard at some point.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it. I won't kill the Elric brothers."

"Like you'd be able to," groused Ed. "And not that I have any idea why you'd want to. And why now, all of a sudden? We've been in the same cell for hours now. That was random."

"Mr. Hei," interrupted Al. "Please tell us. We don't want to kill anyone. When we opened the Gate… why would that kill someone?"

Hei sat down on the makeshift bed with a huff and stared at the floor. "It hasn't yet. But it will."

"How?" asked Al urgently. "Is the Gate tied to peoples' lives or something?"

Hei didn't answer, but Yin spoke up in her mechanical voice. "No. But the Homunculi…want to use you to kill everyone."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone."

"How?"

"Don't know."

Ed scruffed his hair in frustration. "If you don't know, then why did that guy try to kill me? For all you know, maybe they just need me to die. Isn't that what 'human sacrifice' means?"

Hei looked up to give him an even look. "They need you alive at a certain place and time, neither of which I know. But if I kill you, then they will need to find new sacrifices. The limited number of sacrifices is the weak spot in their plan—they've been trying to artificially create more, but it hasn't been working."

"Artificially create…?" Al repeated in confusion. "How can you—?"

"That's not important," interrupted Hei coolly.

"Oh, yes it is!" shouted back Ed. "You're trying to tell us we need to die! You can't just withhold information like that!"

"We're both…failed human sacrifice candidates," Yin told them. "We've only seen part of the Gate."

"Yin!" Hei barked. "They don't need to know!"

Yin fell silent, and the Elric brothers stared at them. "So…" Ed started, a mixture of empathy and disgust on his face. "You tried human transmutation too…?

"No."

"Then how?"

Hei glared at them, and silence fell upon them all once again as he refused to answer. Al leaned forward and ignored the squeak his armor made at the motion. In a soft voice he said, "Please, tell us why you think we need to die. Tell us the whole story."

Hei's growl was almost feral. "No."

"If we hear what you have to say, and we think that you're being completely honest about everything… I know that I, at least, will seriously consider allowing you to kill me."

"Al…!" Ed protested, shock clearly written all over his face. "_What are you saying? _We promised that we would get our bodies back together—"

"At the cost of fifty million people, Ed? If this guy is telling the truth… then we need to really think about re-evaluating that promise. Remember how we felt when we found out Mr. Hughes's death was our fault? Imagine if it was millions of people…"

"No. No way in _hell_ am I going to allow you to die!"

"Ed—!"

"No! There has to be another way. I'll listen to what you have to say," he spat at Hei, jabbing his finger at the man. "But don't expect me to just sit by as you try to kill my little brother. Not gonna happen."

"It won't be a problem," Hei told him coldly. "Because I'm not—"

He stopped with a blink. Yin had grabbed his sleeve. "Hei. I think you should."

"What…?"

"Tell them."

"No."

"It's not like we have anything else to do in here anyways," Al said in an admirably nonchalant voice. "You tell us your story, and I might give you my life." Ed snarled angrily at that. "That's more than equivalent; it's heavily in your favor."

"Hei. Please."

Hei shut his eyes tightly and let out a slow breath. Those two… they were so alike to him and Bai. Ed was determined to protect his little brother, just as Hei had been. And Al was just as caring as Bai had been before… they had changed her. Maybe that was why he felt like he was being persuaded to tell them, when he had never told the full story to anyone, not even Yin. Besides the obvious tactical advantages it would gain him if the younger brother decided to die, maybe he could impress on the two what he had learned the hard way over and over again. Maybe he could show them how naïve they were being precisely because of how they were now. And, he had to admit, if they consented to being killed, he would feel considerably better than if he killed them in cold blood. He really _was_ getting to be sentimental.

"Alright."

He couldn't believe he was actually agreeing to this. He had practically forced himself to not think of all this ever since he left the military. Nowadays, the only times he ever relived those memories were in his nightmares, when he couldn't escape anything.

"Alright," he repeated. "I think it would be best if I started from when I was in Ishbal."


	16. Ishbal: Part 1

Chapter 16—Ishbal: Part 1

A/N: Sorry if you don't like flashbacks because this one is going to end up being pretty long. But it definitely needed to be included in the story. I'm trying to start off with Hei's character before he became a Contractor and before he killed anyone. So… he might seem out of character at first. Hopefully I'll do a good enough job showing his change that it doesn't seem too jarring when he becomes the Hei we now know…

And is that over 50 reviews that I see? O_O I didn't really expect that I would get ANY reviews when I started writing this story, much less 50! Thank you! :) I read them all, and they really do help with motivation/pointing out mistakes.

Oh, and I don't own Darker than BLACK and Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

"Ishbal?"

Hei nodded slowly and closed his eyes. It didn't stop the memories from flickering behind his eyelids.

"You were at Ishbal?" Ed's fists clenched and his expression focused determinedly on Hei. "What really happened there? I have a feeling that it's important, but no one has ever told us—"

"Of course not."

"What does that mean?"

"Who do you know who was in Ishbal?"

Ed blinked in confusion. "Well…uh… Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye—"

_Those two? So that Lieutenant was in Ishbal as well…_ "They didn't want you to see them as cold-blooded murderers."

Al leaned forward with a squeak from the armor. "But we already know that they've killed people. That's what you have to do in the military."

"They committed genocide. They killed innocent people. And your Colonel helped perform human experimentation. They're murderers," Hei said bluntly. _I've ended too many lives… to have a choice… in when I die. _The Lieutenant's last words before he had knocked her out echoed in his head. So that had been what she meant. Well, at least she recognized herself for what she was.

"Th-that can't be," whispered Al. "They wouldn't…"

"You would be surprised what you can do when you're under orders."

"You speak like you know," Ed spoke up suspiciously. "Did you kill innocent people too?"

"Yes."

"So …" Ed said leaning forward in a very similar manner to his brother. "Why should we believe you?"

"If you don't, it's not my problem," Hei told them blandly. "You're the ones who insisted I tell you."

Ed contemplated Hei for a silent moment as Al stared down at his restrained hands. "Okay. Go ahead."

Hei sat down and leaned back against the wall. "I'm sure what you've heard of Ishbal has all been heroic tales on our part. But that was about as far as you could get from the truth. Like I told you, it was genocide." He paused as he tried to think of where to start.

Yin's head tilted up, and her hand fumbled towards him, reaching. She patted the air until she found his upper sleeve, which she consequently grabbed onto and held tightly. She was trying to comfort him? He took a deep breath and continued.

"A bit of background first. Yin and I… we were both kidnapped. And both of our parents were immigrants. Almost everyone involved in the experiment was the son or daughter of an immigrant."

"Why?" Ed interrupted.

Hei glared at him and Ed shrunk back. He answered anyway. "They wanted to see if there was a race that would be best for becoming a Contractor. They were hoping that the Amestrian race would be proven superior. But that failed—no one race saw more of the Gate than another. And no one saw the Gate completely, like they were hoping."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Hei answered coolly. "But I assume it's because we didn't open the Gate ourselves. It was some researcher who did. . I've heard it takes a lot of willpower to open the Gate. He must not have been strong enough to open it all the way."

"What're these Contractors I keep hearing about?" Ed put in again.

"If you keep interrupting, you'll never find out," growled Hei. Ed slunk back once more.

"Contractors have seen part of the Gate," Yin reeled off in her monotone voice. "Dolls have too. Contractors lose the ability to be irrational. They have to do extra payments too. Dolls lose their free will."

"Payments?" asked Al.

"Contractors didn't pay enough to obtain Equivalent Exchange when they saw the Gate," said Hei. "Every time we need to use alchemy, we each have to make a unique 'payment' afterwards. It can be anything from having to aging faster to having to break your own fingers."

Ed cringed at the thought, but kept up his interrogation. "And Dolls?"

"We don't have any payments," stated Yin. "We paid enough."

"So…wait," said Al. "Then you're a Doll?"

"Yes."

"And he's a Contractor," surmised Ed with a look at Hei. "So… they kidnapped a bunch of people and turned them into Contractors and Dolls?"

Hei looked dully at the floor. "They kept us as humans for several years. Then, when we were deemed old enough and strong enough, they performed the experiment. I wasn't turned into a Contractor at that point. But my sister was. I was kept to be her bodyguard for when she had to pay her Contract. And later I was given command of the Contractors in Ishbal."

"Huh…" said Ed in a slightly confused voice as he mussed up his hair absentmindedly. "I think I've got it."

"We were trained for combat for years." Hei's eyes slid out of focus as he felt himself narrating his memories that seemed like another lifetime, yet strangely enough, just like yesterday. "When we first arrived…"

_Hei looked around warily at his new surroundings as he cautiously stepped out of the train shielding his eyes from the blinding light. They were in a desert. It was scorchingly hot; he had never felt this kind of heat in his life. His mouth already was going dry as if all the water he had drunk was already evaporating away. He absentmindedly put his hand on the metal handrail as he walked down the stairs, only to hastily pull back his hand. It felt like he had been burned._

"_Damn, what were they thinking?"gasped a man in the Amestrian military uniform, who was going to help him escort the Contractors off the train. He had introduced himself, but Hei hadn't been listening. What had been his name…? He couldn't remember. In any case, he was just another member of the military, just another person to fade into the sea of uniforms. He was one of the lowest of the low, Hei could see by the rank on his uniform. __A Private__. "Why'd they decide to come right in the middle of the day? Everyone, even the Ishbalans, takes it easy around noon." He wiped his sweaty face with a handkerchief already soaked with sweat. "Damn…" he repeated shaking his head. "Well, not like we have a choice in the matter. C'mon kid, let's get those people out to the barracks safely."_

_Hei nodded quietly and followed after the man back into the baggage where most of the Contractors and Dolls lay as if sleeping. It wasn't the case for all of them, however. Most of the Dolls, Hei knew grimly, were probably already dead. Dolls were considered failures, and due to the amount of effort it took to keep one alive, many had been neglected during the journey to Ishbal. Hei had sneaked some of his water and food to the first Doll he had met, Yin, as well as to some of the others, but before long he had been found out and reprimanded. The scientists told him it was taking him away from doing his duty—keeping a watch on the Contractors at all times. They threatened to take him away from his sister if he helped out the Dolls again. It hadn't seemed a very solid argument to Hei—after all, he didn't watch over the Contractors_ all_ the time, and especially not when he ate. They probably had some ulterior motive for trying to kill off the Dolls. But in any case, he had been put under watch the rest of the train ride, and he had been unable to help them. None of the Contractors had any motivation to give the Dolls any assistance either, so many other Dolls had been completely deprived of food and water in the blisteringly hot baggage car. The stench of their excretions permeated every inch of the car—no one had bothered to take them to the toilet._

"_My God…!" exclaimed the Private as he walked into the car. He held up his sweaty handkerchief to his nose in a futile attempt to block out the reek. His eyes wide as he slowly looked around the car, he looked as if he might be sick. "What…what is this?"_

"_It is none of your business, Private," stated one of the researchers as he came up into the car from behind Hei and the Private. "Your job is only to take them to the barracks. That is all."_

"_But…!" exclaimed the man. "How am I supposed to do that? At least half of them are already dead!"_

"_Oh…The ones in the back?" asked the scientist. Hei caught a flash of a golden tooth as the man grinned. "Don't worry about them. Those in the front need to be given top priority."_

"_Yessir," answered Hei dully before the Private could speak and get himself into more trouble. "Let's go," he muttered quietly to the Private as he caught his sleeve and dragged him towards the Contractors. "You'll be able to help more of them if you just keep your mouth shut."_

_The Private nodded inconspicuously, still looking as if he was going to be sick._

"_Well then, I'll be going," said the golden-toothed researcher. "Make sure all the Contractors are taken care of, Hei." Hei nodded listlessly in response. The car door closed behind him as he left._

"_How…how can you stand this?" the Private asked him once the scientist's footsteps had disappeared in a horrified voice. "Look what they've done to the ones back there! They're just kids!"_

"_They don't care," Hei told him as he walked up to his sister, Bai, and started gently shaking her shoulder. "All they care about is results, and they think that Dolls can't deliver that. This is probably their way of getting rid of them."_

"_Dolls…?"_

_Bai's eyes opened slowly as she looked up at Hei. "Big Brother. Good morning."_

"_It's afternoon, Bai. Get up. We're getting off the train now."_

_She nodded. "Okay. Good afternoon."_

_Hei forced a smile onto his face. "Good afternoon. Now, help me get some of the others up."_

"_Okay."_

_The Private looked towards the back of the car with a gulp. "W-well…f-first…L-let's go see how many back there survived," he said in falsely bravado voice. "I'm sure we can manage to fit all the survivors into the truck."_

"_Why?" asked Bai curiously as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Isn't it more logical to let some of them die? It'll be hard work to keep all those Dolls alive, and they can't do anything to compensate for it. They're failures."_

_The Private gaped at her in shock. "Listen to what you're saying!" he exclaimed. "Those are human beings! We're under an obligation to help them!"_

"_That isn't a rational explanation at all," responded Bai with a furrowed brow as her hands returned to her side. "Aren't we here to kill humans? Ishbalans? Why does it make any difference that these Dolls are human?"_

_The Private continued to gape at her. "It—it just does!" he nearly yelled. "We're on the same side! The Ishbalans—it's unfortunate but—"_

"_Stop it," interjected Hei tiredly. "Let's just go check to see how many are alive."_

"_Okay, Big Brother. There might be enough dead already anyway."_

_Hei sighed resignedly. Bai was always like this now, she had been for years. He should be sad, or angry, but now… he was just tired. Tired of seeing people treated like they were less than human, tired of seeing Contractors being forced to act so ruthlessly because of their Contract… At least both he and Bai hadn't been required to kill anyone yet. If there was one thing he wanted to hold onto, it was that. It was Bai's last tentative connection to humanity, and, he was sure, his only real tethering to sanity. He was not yet a true monster, and neither was Bai. He would manage to do his job and protect the Contractors without killing anyone, and Bai could do it too. He was sure of it._

_He heard a strangled yell from the Private, who had gone to check on the first Doll he had come across. There was a thump as he landed hard on his backside. "T-th-this one…h-has maggots in it," he managed to squeak out before he vomited off to the side._

_Hei looked away, and studiously avoided the aforementioned Doll as he went to check for more survivors. Bai seemed confused again. "Well… Isn't that common after someone dies? I mean, they must have died early on in the trip, but still it's no surprise—"_

"_Bai," interrupted Hei. He was feeling rather queasy himself. "Please. Be quiet for now and just help."_

_Bai shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure."_

So far none are alive on this side of the car,_ thought Hei as he went checking Doll after Doll. _Maybe they all ended up dying after all…

"_Big Brother," said Bai pointing to a lanky, adolescent male Doll. "This one's alive."_

"_Bring him out to the truck and give him some water, Bai. Be careful with him."_

_Bai nodded and did as he asked. As she opened the door, the breeze from the outside world brought in some welcome fresh air to the putrid car. This seemed to bring the still shivering Private back into his senses. He shook himself and stood up slowly. "I-I better help check that side too," he said shakily. "For all we know that girl is leaving some of the still-living ones for dead."_

_It pained Hei that that was a definite possibility. "Good point. You can double-check Bai's side." _

_The Private nodded and moved slowly to each Doll's side, checking their pulse and breathing. They worked in a silence made even more stifling by the fact that the quiet meant that they had found no survivors. Finally, the Private exclaimed, "Found one! This girl is still alive!"_

_Hei looked over to the Private to see that it was the Doll he had tried to help before, Yin. She was sandwiched in between two conspicuously dead Dolls, and at the Private's yell, her eyes opened slowly to stare blankly ahead. "It's Yin," he told the Private._

"_Yin, is it? Hang in there! Can you understand what I'm saying? Hey!" the Private asked Yin worriedly. "Say something!"_

_Yin looked around the car, her eyes searching but not focusing on any one thing. _

"_Hei," she stated monotonously. Hei's eyebrows raised in surprise. She had remembered his name from all those years ago. He hadn't even seen her since then._

"_What is it, Yin?" Even though he was expecting it, it was so strange to hear a Doll's robotic voice coming out from the once fiery girl._

"_Where."_

"_We're at Ishbal. We're leaving the train car now. Can you get up?"_

"_Help. Blind."_

"_Uh…" the Private looked at Yin anxiously. "Does she always talk like this? Or should I be more worried?"_

"_I think she does," Hei answered a little uncertainly. "Yin. What do you mean? Try to say more."_

"_Blind."_

_Hei's eyes dawned in understanding as he saw her unfocused eyes gaze around the car. "You're blind?"_

"_Yes."_

"_So you need help."_

"_Yes."_

"_Alright then!" the Private said, in a falsely gallant voice, as he put an arm around Yin and helped her up. "Let me escort you out of here, Miss Yin."_

_They made it to the door as Bai came back in. She gave little notice of them, but her backwards glance at the pair told Hei more than enough of what she had done._

"_Bai," Hei said quietly as the car door closed behind them. "Did you just try to condemn Yin to death? After you said you would help?"_

"_Yin? You know that Doll? Sorry, Big Brother. It was only logical. You may not know, but she's blind. A blind Doll is even more useless than a normal Doll."_

"_Will you stop that?" Hei yelled at Bai. It felt like something had snapped within him. "Stop it! Try to, just once, be irrational! You're going to end up becoming a murderer if this keeps up!"_

"_If I do, then I do," answered Bai with a shrug. "I can't help it Big Brother. I can't act irrational anymore. It's just impossible; you can't understand."_

"_Try!" Hei yelled. He hated when Bai was like this. It was as if Bai had died and a stranger had taken her place. "Please, Bai!"_

"_Why should I try to stop it?" Bai asked. "It's impossible to get out of a Contract. That would just be wasted effort." A Contractor stirred and groaned at the front of the car. "Now look at what you've done Big Brother. You woke up April. Now I might as well wake everyone else up." Bai walked over to the female, Ishbalan Contractor and squatted to face her face-to-face. "April. Wake up. We're at Ishbal."_

_Hei sat down on the floor, his shoulders shaking with repressed emotions. He couldn't even tell what he was feeling anymore; his feelings seemed to have all tangled up into a knot inside him that he couldn't unravel. But he had to get stronger; he had to learn how to deal with Bai. He wouldn't let her become a murderer. He was sure that somewhere deep down, the Bai he had grown up with was still there. He had to stop her for her own sake. The gentle Bai he had grown up with would have rather died than become a murderer._

_Bai went from Contractor to Contractor, waking them up instead of the Dolls now. "November 11. Havok. Amagiri. Alma. Bertha. Huh? Bertha? Where's Itzhak?"_

"_They killed him. They decided at the last minute that his ability to gather Dolls' souls would be useless in combat. So they killed him," Bertha, a fat girl with short, pale hair, said with a shrug._

_Bertha and Itzhak, the pair that had been immigrants from Drachma, had been inseparable. Hei, once again, was forced to wonder if Contractors really _could_ feel anything. How could she act so blasé about Itzhak's murder? Would Bai act like that as well if he died?_

"_Oh," said Bai. "That's too bad." She moved on, waking up more Contractors with a shake. "Mao. Amber's back at Central…"_

_By the time the Private had returned, nearly all of the Contractors were awake. He looked around the room nervously and then walked over to Hei. "They're both safe in the truck," he whispered. "Do you think…Do you think there are any more survivors?"_

"_Honestly…no," Hei admitted. "But I'll get these Contractors out to the truck. You keep checking the Dolls, just in case."_

_The Private gulped and nodded. "Got it. Go on ahead, then."_

_Hei nodded back and turned to the Contractors. __He spoke in an authoritative voice as he had been taught.__ "We're going to the barracks, and I'll do my best to protect you along the way. So let's walk out to the truck in formation. Be on the lookout for any possible snipers." The gaggle of Contractors all nodded and filed out two at a time after Hei._

_It was silent…Maybe it would all go okay. There were no problems yet, although the government had been worried that the news of the Contractors' arrival had been leaked. He would, of course, keep an eye on everyone until they got to their destination, but he sincerely hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with any trouble._

_He stood guard as the last Contractor got into the truck, after which, as if timed to the very second the Contractor closed the door, the train car exploded in a shower of fire behind him. Hei jumped at the huge noise, and tried to turn around, but was prevented by a blinding pain in his shoulder. _What…happened…? _was all he managed to think before everything went dark._


	17. Ishbal: Part 2

A/N: Hm… I'm starting to catch up on the chapters I've already written. I still have a fairly large buffer of chapters, but once school starts, it isn't going to stay that way for very long. I'm going to keep writing this story of course, but I might not be able to update every week anymore. Would it be better to post all I have and then update sporadically, or change the time I update to once every two weeks? Let me know what you think… In any case, I'll still be updating once a week for a little while longer; at the very least, it'll be until the Ishbal flashback is over.

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

_When Hei next opened his eyes, all he was able to comprehend was that the world was a blur of colors and sound. Everything whirled sickeningly, and he fought the overwhelming urge to vomit. He quickly shut his eyes and tried to focus on where he was. Where… He twitched his hands, and his fingers rubbed against a tough fabric. He could almost recognize what it was from, but it eluded him as another wave of nausea made him tightly shut his eyes. He also noted he was moving up and down, as if he was being carried. This didn't help his queasiness._

"_Brother…Okay?...Wake…" he could barely make out the words directed at him as his head spun. His head hurt. "Wake… Wake up!"_

"_Huh?" he managed to grunt. "'M 'wake."_

"_No! …Not! Open…Eyes!" The voice sounded extremely familiar, but his brain couldn't place it at the moment._

"_No…" he groaned, his eyes still tightly shut. "Everythin's spinnin'."_

"_Leave…alone," he heard a new voice say. "Bai, he…rest."_

Bai?_ His eyes snapped open although he hastily closed them again at the whirl of color. It had been Bai who was talking to him? "No. Don' go, Bai."_

"_I'm not," he heard Bai say. He recognized her voice now, and he felt himself relax. It almost felt like they were kids again. Bai was speaking in the kind voice she had always used to speak in; it wasn't her cold, Contractor voice that she used nowadays. "…Right here."_

"_Good," he sighed as he closed his eyes. He really hoped that this wasn't a dream. Even if it was, it was a good dream__—Bai was back to normal__. __He hoped he wouldn't wake up, but that was impossible. All dreams eventually had to end.

* * *

_

_The first thing Hei was conscious of the next time he opened his eyes was a sharp pain in his shoulder. He gasped and his hand automatically moved to cradle the injury, only to stop as the movement only exacerbated the pain. He bit his lip to keep from crying out, and he slowly opened his eyes. The world was no longer twirling around, and he strained to look to the side without moving._

_He was on a mattress in what seemed to be a hospital. It wasn't anything like the hospitals they had had in the underground hideout in Central, however. His mattress was on a dirt floor in a place that reeked of iron—blood. He had two neighbors on either side of him, he surmised with a quick glance. But neither was familiar. _Where am I?

"_Uh," he grunted as he tried to move his tongue to speak. He had a bitter taste in his mouth, and his tongue was dry. He licked his split lips in a futile attempt to moisten them. "Where…am I?" he said as loud as he could in a hoarse voice. It didn't carry far. He took a shallow breath and tried again. "Where—"_

"_I heard you the first time," said a gruff, reprimanding voice. Hei looked up to see a doctor with a buzz cut and glasses looking down at him. "Just save your breath and drink some water."_

_Hei gratefully reached for the water canteen the doctor was holding, only to withdraw his arms with a hiss as he was harshly reminded of his injury. "No, you idiot! Don't move! I swear, you patients are out to make my job harder!"_

"_Sorry," murmured Hei as the doctor bent down and carefully dribbled some water into Hei's mouth. Hei didn't think he had ever tasted something so delicious. "More, please," he couldn't help asking the doctor._

"_See? You're just trying to get yourself sick. You need to drink it slowly. You haven't had much water lately." He poured a bit more water into Hei's mouth. "It's a good thing you weren't out long. We're running low on supplies, and since the Ishbalans destroyed the last train that was carrying hospital supplies, we don't have the proper equipment to give you an intravenous."_

"_Destroyed… a train?" Ah! That was right. He had been unloading the Contractors from the train, and then there had been a loud noise and a bright light… "Is that why I'm injured? What happened to everyone else?"_

"_The ones on that truck? They were all fine, but you probably shouldn't trust them too much. They left one little girl to bring you in by herself. She walked about a mile in that heat with you on her back to get here. It's thanks to her that you're alive."_

"_Bai?" asked Hei in wonder. How could that be? It didn't seem rational. "Bai saved me?"_

"_Yeah, that was her name. Bai. Anyway, the shrapnel from that explosion injured your shoulder, you hit your head when you fell, and you've lost some blood, but it isn't anything too serious, considering. You're a pretty lucky kid. You didn't get a concussion, and the shrapnel shouldn't leave any lasting damage. You should be able to leave here in a week or two."_

"_But…Wait!" Hei suddenly exclaimed, his eyes widening. "Where's Bai now? What's she doing?"_

"_Isn't that girl a State Alchemist or something? If that's the case, she's probably already been sent out on a mission. I heard one group exterminated a town the other day."_

"_No…" Hei exhaled in shock. "They've already made her kill." He had been too late._

"_Hey now," the doctor told him in a slightly gentler voice. "I don't know that for sure yet. Don't think about it until you're well enough to help her. Worrying isn't going to help you at all." He gave Hei another mouthful of water._

_Hei slowly sloshed the water around in his mouth, savoring it, before he swallowed. "What about the Private? He was helping me unload the train. He was in it when it exploded." Along with the bodies of all those Dolls._

"_He was in the train? Sorry, kid. He's probably gone. There were no survivors that I know of," the doctor sighed. "Do you know his name?"_

"_No. I didn't know his name. He helped save some of the Dolls. And I didn't even know his name." Hei closed his eyes. "I wasn't paying attention when he told me."_

_The doctor rubbed the short, prickly hair on the back of his head. "Don't let it get to you, kid," he told Hei gruffly. "Lots of people die here. People will die around you all the time without you knowing their names. It's just the way it is." Hei opened his eyes to stare blankly at the earthen ceiling. The doctor looked down off to the side. "But… well… if you don't want to happen again…" he said uncomfortably. "My name is Doctor Knox. Nice to meet you. What's your name, kid?"_

"_Hei." His eyes widened in surprise as Doctor Knox awkwardly ruffled his hair. "What do you get from being nice to me?"_

"_What do I get from it…?" Doctor Knox repeated in surprise. "Well, I guess… a paycheck. It's my job." _

_Hei looked away from Doctor Knox to the ceiling. "It must be nice."_

"_Huh?" the Doctor asked, lifting an eyebrow at Hei._

"_Being a doctor. Equivalent Exchange doesn't apply to you. You save people."_

_Dr. Knox tilted the canteen to pour more water into Hei's mouth. "Alright, time for you to stop talking and rest up." But Hei thought he saw a ghost of a smile on Doctor Knox's face. Hei returned it with a slight smile. He was pleased to find that it wasn't forced.

* * *

_

_A little over a week later, Hei was released from the hospital. He had no idea where he was supposed to go; he hadn't been visited by anyone in his entire time at the hospital. It was as if he had been written off as dead and left behind. He sincerely hoped that that wasn't true; he wanted to protect Bai as much as he was able—both from the Ishbalans and from herself. _

_And after spending a week with Doctor Knox, he was beginning to hope that if they managed to survive this war, they could try to leave the military. He was sure that without both her Contract and the military simultaneously pressuring her to kill, Bai would be able to lead a relatively normal life. A normal life, from the way Doctor Knox told it, was the greatest happiness someone could have. Hei had seen him sneaking a look at the picture of his family when he had thought no one was looking. It would be nice to one day have a family and a job that didn't involve killing._

"_Hey, kid," he heard a gruff voice call out from behind him. He turned to see Doctor Knox at the doorway of the military hospital. "Take care of yourself." Hei's eyes widened in surprise, and Doctor Knox turned away, scratching the back of his head. "I just don't want another troublesome patient like yourself having to come back in here, you hear?"_

_Hei nodded, still wide-eyed. "I'll… I'll look after my sister too."_

"_You better. If she's half as troublesome as you, I wouldn't want her in here either," Dr. Knox grumbled._

_Hei smiled, and was surprised at himself for it. It was pleasant to have a normal conversation with someone who regarded him as an equal. Before coming to Ishbal, he couldn't remember the last time that had happened. "Alright."_

"_Off you go, then. I better not see you until after the war."_

"_Yessir. See you then," Hei replied, and with a wave walked off, feeling more refreshed than he could remember being in a while. _

_But… where should he go? He supposed he could go try to find the barracks he was supposed to bring the Contractors to in the first place. Maybe that was where they were staying._

"Breakfast time, Hei and friends," a voice interrupted Hei's story. He blinked, and looked up as he saw the elongated shadow of someone approaching. "You better eat up. I hear they're going to start running some experiments tonight."

Ed and Al rubbed their eyes as if they had just been woken up. Everyone had been so engrossed in Hei's story, that they hadn't been paying attention to anything else.

The shadow grew more defined as the unknown person drew closer. Hei narrowed his eyes as he stared intently at the dark shape on the wall across from the cell. It wasn't a human shape, but it was still familiar…

"And if you're as indecisive as you were in Ishbal, you're going to need all the help you can get," laughed the voice. It was muffled, as if the person talking had something in its mouth, but Hei's head raised suddenly as he recognized who it was. A cat walked up to the cell, carefully carrying a small platter of bread and water in his mouth. He set it down and stretched languorously before he walked into the room. "Long time no see, Hei, Yin."

"Mao!" Hei exclaimed in surprise. Ed and Al gaped at the talking cat. "How are you still alive? I thought you were in the barracks the Ishbalans bombed?"

"Nope. My real body wasn't even in there. I managed to survive as a cat, but the military caught up to me recently, and I haven't tried running away since."

"You lost your body?"

"Sort of. They took it away, and I haven't seen it in years. It's not too bad though. The kibble's tasty," Mao said with a wink. "And I get to sleep much more than I did when I was human."

Hei's eyebrows furrowed, trying to concentrate past the shock he felt at seeing a comrade he had long assumed dead. "But couldn't you still try to escape? It would be much harder to track a body-jumper like you than someone like us."

"Nope," Mao replied as he lowered his head down onto his paws. His tail twitched in irritation. "Afraid not. I have the same metal chip in me that everyone else does, and they make sure to never let any animals near me. I have a Doll on me at all times too…"

"Did they do that to you?" interrupted Al suddenly. "Did the researchers make it so you became a cat?"

Mao looked up in response to the voice, and after staring intensely at Al, a shiver visibly undulated down his spine as he yowled in surprise, "An empty suit of armor…? How are you talking?"

"I think we could ask you the same question!" interjected Ed. "You're a cat!"

"I'm a Contractor, for your information!" puffed Mao. He glanced sideways at Al with his slitted eyes. "Are you one as well?"

"No!" Al replied. "Well… sort of, in a manner of speaking?"

Mao sighed. "Why is nothing black and white anymore?"

"They've seen the Gate, Mao. All of it. And they opened it by themselves," Hei stated.

Mao's eyes became half-lidded as he gazed at Al, and then at Ed. "Both of you? But what did you give up?"

"My body," said Al. "And Ed lost his leg. He gave up his arm to pull back my soul and put it into this armor." He indicated Ed's empty right sleeve and Hei gave it a cursory glance. Finally, something that was different from Bai and himself. He hadn't been able to do anything to help Bai. In fact, it had been the other way around. "Are you really happy with that body? Um… Mao, was it?"

"Not much I can do about it, happy or not," Mao replied as he scratched his ear with a back paw. "My real body's gone, and this one's slowly decaying. Even if I jumped into a new body, it would decay as well. After all, this body is not my real body, and a dissimilar soul and body reject each other."

"They…reject each other?" repeated Al in a whisper. "Then… my soul…"

"Oh, sorry," apologized Mao in a casual, almost insincere voice. "You didn't know?"

"No," whispered Al. He exchanged a glance with his brother, who was now wide-eyed. "I didn't…"

Mao's shoulders rose and fell in a cat's equivalent of a shrug. "Oh well. Best not worry about it; it won't get you anywhere. Here, eat up," he said, indicating the tray of bread and water he had brought just outside the cell.

"I can't eat," Al informed him. His voice was still a bit dazed.

"Oh…right. Well more for your brother and Yin in any case."

Hei's head snapped up at that. Mao hadn't said his name. "Are you trying to starve me?" His stomach protested loudly at the thought.

"Course not. But even I know better than to bring you just one tray, Hei," Mao chuckled. "We've got a couple Dolls coming with several trays of food. Oh, here they come."

Three Dolls stopped silently outside the cell, carrying two trays each. Setting them down outside the bars, they each turned around and walked away without a word.

Hei's watched them leave with narrowed eyes. "Those are the newest Dolls, correct? How are they so evolved? Yin couldn't do anything by herself at first…"

Mao slunk out of the bars after the Dolls. Turning his head as he left, he told Hei, "They used more Philosopher's Stones this time. The newer Dolls had less of a payment. You better keep quiet about Yin, though. If she's changed, they'll probably want to do experiments on her, too." He turned around and started forward again. "I'll send Parcel to pick you up later tonight. And I might even show up to see what happens to you." Hei nodded to show he understood and, after handing Yin her portion, started scarfing down his bread and water as fast as he could.

As Mao's padded footsteps faded away, Al spoke up. "I like that Contractor," he said brightly over the sounds of Hei noisily gulping down a glass of water. Ed hadn't touched his food. "He was nice."

Ed snorted. "You just liked him because he was a cat."

"Did not! He was different!"

"Yeah, sure."

There was a nearly inaudible tension in their tones, Hei noted as they continued bickering. Their cheerfulness was too forced. He had had enough of Contractors covering up their emotions; he didn't need to listen to humans do it as well. "He had to be friendly," Hei interrupted in a muffled voice. He was nearly halfway through his meal, and he had a huge chunk of the bread in his mouth as he talked. He swallowed it after another swig of water. "He's a Contractor, and a weak one at that. He can't afford to be anything but sociable; his Contract wouldn't let him. Who knows what his personality is really like." He returned to attacking the bread.

Ed blinked quickly in surprise. "Huh. I guess I never thought about that. Is that Contract of yours really that strong?"

"Yesh," Hei managed to eke out, which was an accomplishment seeing how much food he had crammed into his mouth. Ed looked slightly repulsed. He took a moment to swallow. "Strong enough that most Contractors act like they've lost their original personalities, whether they really have or not. So drop the act. You're not fooling anyone."

"What—"

"Your brother."

Ed scratched the back of his head and sighed gloomily. "Can't deny I'm worried. I guess I just thought that Al would stay in that armor until his blood seal was erased. And where would his soul go, anyways? He lost his body in the transmutation…" Ed shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "But we can't do anything right now, without alchemy. I wouldn't even know where to start… So why don't you continue your story from when the cat came in? What happened? Did you end up finding your sister?"

"Yes. I found her," stated Hei his eyes and voice going flat. He stared at what remained of the platter of bread, and uncharacteristically felt nauseous enough that he decided to finish it later. "I ended up finding out that the Contractors werestaying at the barracks I had been bringing them to. Once they had confirmed who I was, they sent me off after them—they were on another mission. But when I go there…"

"_Big Brother," stated Bai as she turned towards him. She was back to her Contractor voice. "So you survived."_

"_I've been looking everywhere, Bai! Why didn't you send anyone to let me know where you were?" panted Hei, his hands on his knees._

"_They ordered me to leave you behind."_

_Hei stood up and stared at her. "Then why'd you save me?"_

"_The order came after I came back from the hospital. I saved you because you are my bodyguard. It was only rational."_

"_But…!" protested Hei. "Then… but why—"_

"_We're still in the middle of a mission, Big Brother. Are you going to help?"_

"_I…" Hei said uncomfortably. "I guess so… But what's the mission?"_

"_We're exterminating this town."_

_Hei's eyes flew open wide. "Then—you've…you've already killed people?"_

"_Of course, Big Brother. Didn't I say I would?"_

"_Yeah, but—" He looked past her to see the grotesque forms of corpses contorted in pain littering the ground. He stepped back hastily, fighting the urge to empty the contents of his breakfast on the ground. It wasn't seeing the dead bodies that bothered him, he already seen more corpses than he could count. Corpses only bothered him in a dull way, like a chronic, aching pain he had already grown used to, something he couldn't escape. But this…this was different. It was _Bai_ that had killed them. His little sister. His little sister, who had kept him sane during their imprisonment, who had, even at a young age, tried to protect him from Envy. He still remembered clearly_.

No! _yelled a sobbing Bai, running towards Envy to defend Hei_. Don't break Big Brother! Don't break him! I don't want him to break too!

"_Did you do this…?" Hei asked Bai as calmly as he could. It couldn't be, could it? It had to be a mistake of some kind. He couldn't reconcile the crying, frightened face of the Bai in his memories with this cold killer that stood before him. "How? When…?"_

_Bai didn't flinch. "Yes." Hei squeezed his eyes shut. _No._ "I did it through electrocution, just now. April's power to move large amounts of water has proved very useful…" Bai staggered forward a step, and her speech grew slower and less defined. Hei heard her move and opened his eyes to watch her movements with weary recognition. She would have to pay her Contract any second now._

_Sure enough, Bai's eyelids flickered close, and she slumped forward. Hei ran forward and caught her before she hit the ground. She was already falling asleep. "I'm glad," he heard Bai mutter as he held her close to him in a pained hug. "I'm glad you're here, Big Brother." _

_Hei wished he could be pleased to hear that unexpected sentiment coming from Bai. But there was nothing pleasant about this situation. Bai had killed. She was no longer the innocent, kind girl he had grown up with. And it was all because he hadn't been there to stop her._


	18. Ishbal: Part 3

A/N: I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

"_Hei. Hei…Hei!"_

_Hei looked up blearily as he heard his name being called. "Huh?"_

_He blinked as a hand waved in front of his face. "You alive?"_

_Hei sighed as he leaned back in the chair he was sitting on to look at the smiling face of Mao. "I'm fine."_

"_Good to see you again. You make everything much more interesting around here. Being with a bunch of Contractors is way too predictable." Mao cocked his head curiously. He looked uncannily like the dog he sometimes inhabited when spying for the military. "Where've you been, anyways?"_

"_In the hospital," grunted Hei. "Bai took me there. All by herself," he added with a glare at Mao. That particular piece of news hadn't been a surprise, but it didn't make him any less irate about it._

"_Hey, hey," protested Mao. "I'm a Contractor, remember? I'm predictable. _You're_ the one who makes things interesting. Not me."_

_Hei sighed again and leaned back into the chair, closing his eyes. He put his arm over his face. "You're right. Contractors are predictable. I guess I should have been expecting it."_

"_Ah," Mao replied in a knowing voice. "So this is about your sister?"_

_Hei didn't bother acknowledging the question. After he had found Bai, he had been drafted into leaving her and protecting the other Contractors. No one had attacked them, and he hadn't had to kill anyone, but… that had been because the town was already decimated. There were dead bodies all over, already starting to smell in the heat as they lay draped over balconies or fallen on the ground, as if the attack had killed them instantly during their daily activities. All the Contractors were now back at the barracks, lounging around and drinking water to recuperate their strength. Bai was still asleep in bed._

"_Hmm…" Mao mused. "Or maybe it was seeing all those bodies? Bai did kill quite a bit of them, and this is a tender age for you humans. You get all emotional." Hei opened his eyes to glare at Mao from under his arm. He slowly removed his arm from his face and stood up. Mao's eyebrows rose with Hei as he towered over the still-squatting Mao. "What is it?"_

"_Don't talk like you're able to understand, Mao. You're a Contractor." Bai's emotionless look as she stood surrounded by the bodies of those she had killed remained imprinted in his memory. "Killing doesn't bother you."_

_Mao shrugged, and joined Hei in standing. "And don't talk like _you_ understand Contractors. With that sort of attitude, how are you going to help your sister?" _

_Hei looked down. "But… She would never have killed anyone before she became a Contractor. Maybe…she's just not Bai anymore." He sat down again with a flop, his arms dangling weakly in front of him. He covered his eyes again. "It's like she died when she went into the experiment room, and never came back," Hei stated in what he considered an admirably calm voice, with the exception of his voice cracking on the final word._

_Mao sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh man… This sort of stuff isn't my strong suit. But I guess since you're our bodyguard now, it would be to my benefit to help you, right?" Hei felt the fabric move as Mao dropped to sit next to him. "She's still in there. She didn't die."_

_Hei chuckled bitterly. "What's the point of trying to help me? It's obvious you have a motive. If your Contract thought it necessary, it would make you lie."_

"_Believe me, Hei, if just this once," Mao told him calmly. "We're still here. I can still tell what I should feel. It's just… like being a puppet. The puppeteer decides most of your actions and sometimes even your thoughts, but when you have a rational feeling or action of your own, you're allowed to carry it out." Mao kept his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Hei's as he paused for a moment. "Bai's still there. She might be even making a decision or two of her own, if it's rational. So stop moping."_

_Hei returned his stare to the ground. "I don't know anymore," he said slowly as he watched a dust bunny stray from under the chair onto the carpet. "She's a Contractor, so I know she's going to have to kill. But if she's not necessarily doing it by her own will…" he brought a hand to his forehead as he thought it over, his brow creased. "I'll just protect her until the war's over. Then we're getting out of here,"__ he concluded. Some of the worry inside him eased. His decision felt right. "Maybe even before the war's over."_

_Mao's eyebrows shot up again. Apparently he didn't agree. "Getting out of here?" he repeated incredulously. "You can't possibly get her to agree with something that stupid. You'll be killed the moment you set foot out of Ishbal." _

"_We can't stay here," Hei said more firmly. "It's only rational for Bai to follow orders in the military. But if we leave..."_

_Mao gaped at him, and then scratched his head again. "Well…damn. That didn't go as expected. Now I might not have you around to help protect us in the future." He turned and started walking away. "But… I'm still sort of glad I told you. This will, if nothing else, be interesting."_

_Hei watched him leave. "Thanks, Mao," he murmured quietly as Mao moved away. It might not have been what Mao was intending, but he was feeling a little better now that he had a goal in mind. "Thanks."

* * *

_

_A couple days later, in the middle of the night, Hei walked into the barrack's common area and stretched with his arms behind his head. The patter of his footsteps on the tile of the hallway died almost instantly as he meandered into the thickly carpeted room. It was quiet, which was the opposite of what he had been hoping for. He was going to be sent with Bai on a mission tomorrow, and he couldn't sleep. He kept on imagining scenarios involving Bai killing people, Bai dying, himself dying…He had been hoping that someone else might've been out here too so he could wile away the time, but… he sighed. As childish as it was, he hated being alone at night, how it seemed to isolate him from everyone else with a veil of darkness. Most importantly, it took away one of the last attributes he associated with his sister—her appearance. He hated to admit it, but sometimes the only thing that reminded him that Bai was the kind sister he had known in the past was that she had almost exactly the same face that she had had as a child. She was completely different in nearly every other way. He sighed, and remembered with a dull sort of pain, that it had also been night when Envy killed off most of his family. He hated the night. Darkness blinded him, made him vulnerable. It was strange, despising such an intangible thing as a lack of light; a Contractor would have told him that it was illogical to the extreme. And it was, but maybe it was things like this that made him human, and his sister... a murdering Contractor. He flinched at his own admission. No. Bai was still human. Even if she had killed.  
_

_He was drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of a sudden, but slight, movement in the room. Maybe he wasn't alone here after all. "Hello? Anyone here?" There it was again. But no response. It was coming from…the couch. "Hello?" He started walking cautiously around the couch, ready to attack if it was an intruder. "Who's there?"_

_There was another shift in the couch's fabric, and Hei leaped to the front of it, his hands grasping the handles of the knives on his belt. He stared at the person on the couch, and after a moment, let himself relax. "Oh. It's just you, Yin. Are you feeling better now?"_

_Yin stared sightlessly at him with her strange, lavender eyes. "Hei."_

"_Yes," Hei responded, feeling a bit awkward. "That's me. How are you feeling?"_

_Yin continued to stare, and Hei had to stop himself from fidgeting. It wasn't like she could see him, but it was still unnerving nonetheless. Did she know she was staring? Or had she just gotten so used to the perpetual darkness she was in that she didn't bother even pretending to see anymore? How did it feel, to constantly be trapped in that darkness he so hated? _

"_Don't know," Yin finally said._

_Hei's eyebrows raised in slow surprise. "You… don't know how you're feeling? Oh. I didn't mean your emotions. I meant… are you in any pain still?"_

_Yin's eyes closed, and Hei's eyebrows quirked even higher. Had she fallen asleep? No, her eyes were opening again. It was as if she had decided to blink, albeit in a very slow manner. "Why."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Why. Just a Doll."_

Just a Doll?_ She must have been told that many times by the researchers by now. That she was a failed experiment, that she didn't matter. That no one should care enough to even ask how she was feeling. The researchers would probably justify themselves by stating that Yin couldn't feel hurt by what they said. She_ was_ just a Doll after all. But…she seemed to have accepted the scientists' assertions as total facts. Even if she couldn't feel, surely even Dolls needed to be told they were worth something. Even someone who wasn't able to realize how terrible her situation was would need to have a bit of light shine in her surrounding darkness occasionally. Wouldn't she? What about Bai? He sighed softly and told her in a quiet voice, "It doesn't matter if you're a Doll." He felt like he should do something to show he meant what he said, so he clumsily reached down and patted her on the head. "You're still a person. Don't listen to what the researchers tell you."_

_Yin's eyelids flickered. Her unwavering, sightless stare broken momentarily as her blind eyes moved ever so slightly. For that brief moment, it had seemed like she was trying to see. "Oh. Still a person."_

"_Yeah," Hei agreed softly. "Don't let them tell you differently. Dolls are still human. And so are Contractors." _ So is Bai._ He half-wondered if it was Yin or himself he was trying to persuade on that particular point. "Okay?" _

_Yin continued to look straight ahead. Her eyes closed slowly, and he realized he must have woken her up earlier. She looked exhausted. "Okay," he heard her breathe faintly as her eyes drifted shut._

"_She's asleep," said a voice behind him. He jumped and quickly turned his head around to reveal a Contractor he had seen several times, but hadn't had much of an opportunity to talk to before._

"_Amber," Hei stated, straightening up. She was giving him a strange look—after all, she, like all Contractors, must think that Dolls were worth nothing. But then again, maybe not. Even he knew that she was a strange Contractor from his limited knowledge of her. The most obvious difference was that she had golden hair and eyes, which had made the scientists very excited when they had found her. They were under the impression that she was a descendant from an ancient Amestrian race, perhaps one of the legendary people that had come over from Xerxes hundreds of years ago to teach Amestrians alchemy. It would make sense, Hei had heard them say, because such people were sometimes found along the border of the Great Desert. "Did they let you leave Central? What are you doing here?"_

"_I might ask you the same question," Amber told him as she walked over next to him to gaze down at Yin. "Shouldn't you be getting some sleep? You have a mission tomorrow. I'm sure you don't want to be out of form when you're trying to protect your sister."_

"_My job is to protect everyone, not just Bai," Hei reminded her. He couldn't let himself seem too partial to his sister, or they might send him someplace else. Or at least, that's what he tried to do whenever he remembered. All the Contractors probably were already well-aware that he would protect Bai over any of them. Especially after witnessing his reaction to Bai murdering all those people._

_Amber's mouth curved into a smile. "But she's who you're really trying to protect," she said, echoing his thoughts. "You can't hide it from me__. I've seen it. I've seen a lot of things; things that have made me think differently about Contractors and Dolls." She returned her attention to Yin. "Things might not be as set in stone as they appear. Things can always change when you least expect them to."_

"_What are you talking about?" Hei asked her warily. "Dolls and Contractors can't change. The scientists were positive about that."_

"_Dolls can," Amber told him, turning to fix her golden, almost glowing, eyes upon him. Amber might be a Contractor, but Hei had to admit, he couldn't help but think that she seemed to believe what she was saying. Her eyes were earnest as they trained unwaveringly on him. Could it be true?_

_He shook his head absentmindedly. "I don't believe you. Isn't that why they threw away the Dolls? Because they can't send their specters more than a couple feet away from them?"_

"_Yes," Amber told him in an almost cheerful voice. "That's why they decided to simply stop providing for the Dolls. And that's why almost all of them died. But they were so sure that Dolls couldn't change that they never even really _tried._ They can change. With your help, Hei, I'm sure Yin could lengthen the distance her specter can go."_

_Hei raised an eyebrow. "Why just me? And…" he hesitated._

"_And can Contractors change as well?" Amber finished his question for him. Her smile seemed so… _genuine _for a Contractor that as she gazed at him that he just gave her a small, uncertain nod. "You'll have to figure that out for yourself, I'm afraid. But make sure you're the one who helps out Yin. Only you."_

_Hei only felt more confused. "Why are you telling me this? Won't any extra duties I have involving Yin take my attention away from the battlefield? It might make me less able to protect you on a mission. That's irrational." _

"_Oh, I don't think so," Amber told him, still smiling gently. "You're a prodigy, Hei, at being a human weapon. You'd have to be, to be allowed to come along with these Contractors as a bodyguard. And besides, I'm not going with you on the mission tomorrow, or any of the other missions. The Amber of this time is still at Central." _

"_Huh…?" Hei said in bewilderment. 'The Amber of this time?' "What are you talking about?"_

"_Oh, I forgot. You don't know about my Contract yet. Forget I said anything. Just know that I think it would be a shame if you died. You're different from anyone else I've ever seen." She sighed, and those strangely human eyes of hers seemed melancholy for a brief second before her head jolted up and she smiled at him again. "But don't just sit here listening to me. You should get some sleep. Bai is going to need you. And…" Amber said more quietly as she walked away. "You're going to need it as well. Tomorrow is not going to be a very good day for you."_

"…_Huh?" repeated Hei. "Wait—what do you mean? Do you know something? Something that'll compromise the mission tomorrow?" He stepped forward urgently. "Tell me!"_

_Amber turned her head and giggled happily at him in the doorway. __He stepped back uncertainly__. "You're so persistent! Just like always." He blinked, and her eyes widened imperceptibly, as if just realizing that she had accidentally revealed something important. 'Always?' He had barely seen her, much less spoken to her, until now. She spoke up hastily, trying, Hei thought, to erase what she had just said from Hei's mind. "Fine, I'll tell you. I know because my Contract allows me to travel through time. I know all about you, Hei. I've seen your past, and all the paths you could ever take in the future. You're a…a very interesting person." She hurried out the door, her face inscrutable. "Oh!" she said suddenly as she stuck her head back into the doorway. "A truck is going to drive up tomorrow with a bomb. Make sure you get everyone to duck before it explodes, or the shrapnel will decapitate some of your comrades. Remember, I won't be there, so don't forget."_

_Hei blinked, perplexed. His brain was having trouble keeping up with the sudden, bizarre information dump. He blurted out the first question that came to his mind. "So—wait. If you can go through time, why don't you just go to the future? You could escape easily. You could leave this place."_

"_I already did," Amber told him with a smile. "I spent many years in the future. I met a lot of people and learned a lot of things. But I came back."_

_Hei stared at her. Was she serious? She looked about the same age as him. "Why?"_

"_Because of you, Hei." With that, she walked away, her golden hair swishing behind her, with Hei considerably more confused than when he had walked into the room a couple of minutes ago._

"…_Huh?"

* * *

_

"_Get down!" bellowed Hei as the disguised army truck pulled up across the street. "There's a bomb!" He didn't have time to check if anyone had followed his orders as he dropped to the ground himself and covered his ears. An explosion of light and sound burst from in front of him, a light that burned through his eyelids, and a sound that easily penetrated his hastily-made barrier to his eardrums. He felt a blast of heat, and chunks of metal went flying through the air, missing him by mere inches. "Bai!" he yelled from his position on the ground. Where was she? "Bai!" It was probably useless; there was no way anyone could hear him in this racket._

_He opened his eyes, but could hardly see anything but the flowering of red, yellow, and white flames that were blossoming across the street, already belching up a thick cloud of opaque smoke. He was vaguely aware that he had blood on his hands as he took them away from his ears. "Bai!" He stood up somewhat unsteadily but found that he had little trouble keeping his balance. __The blood must have been from something besides his eardrums__. "Bai!" _

_He spotted her nearby, and could have passed out in relief. She was alive. "Bai. Are you okay? Try to get up."_

_She opened up her eyes from where she was lying on the ground amongst the rubble and unsteadily sat up. __Unlike him, some blood was definitely coming from her ears__. "Big Brother… I'm feeling a little…" Her eyes bulged, and she vomited all down her front. "Nauseous," she finished weakly._

"_Stay low," he ordered her. "Keep out of sight. I'll be back; I need to see if I can rally up the other survivors."_

"_Okay," she agreed feebly as she swayed and clutched at his sleeve. "Come back soon."_

"_I will," he promised her, a little uncertain about her unusual behavior. She hadn't hit her head had she? "But stay right there."_

_Bai's unfocused eyes concentrated on something behind his shoulder. "Big Brother," she squeaked, her eyes going wide. "Behind you."_

_Automatically, as he had done so many times while being drilled back in Central, Hei unsheathed his knife and turned around smoothly, ready to stab. It was an Ishbalan with a knife, poised to kill him. _Do it,_ his brain ordered his muscles. _Do it. _He had done this drill a thousand times. A stuffed dummy would sneak up behind him, and he would turn around and stab it in one of its vital spots. _Do it.

_As if he had been doing it all his life, Hei gored the Ishbalan with his knife. He instantly knew this was no drill. This was different. The feeling of the internal organs giving way to the knife's blade, the Ishbalan's blood splattering all over him, the Ishbalan's guts hanging out his stomach as he tried to hold them in… This was different. This was not dummy, not a stuffed doll he had just stabbed. He had just fatally wounded someone. And this person would die._

_He straightened up slowly, towering over the unknown Ishbalan writhing in pain. He tried to take deep breaths, but the best he could manage was shallow gasps. His bloodied hands shook as the Ishbalan finally stopped moving. To Hei, it felt like the person he had been yesterday had just died along with this unknown man._

_He had killed someone__, and he didn't even know his name.

* * *

_

"_That was a disgrace!" barked an officer at Hei as he and the other remaining Contractors stood in a line in front of the barracks. He had managed to gather all the survivors and wounded, and they had retreated back to the barracks. "A disgrace!" repeated the officer emphatically. Hei stared dazedly back at the officer as spittle flew in his face. "You call yourself an elite bunch of State Alchemists? Do you? You just got ambushed, and lost nearly half your men! Do you know how much money went into each and every one of you?" The man paused a moment to catch his breath, but was again in a raging fury in no time. "What a rotten waste of money. A disgrace!"_

"_Stop yelling at him," muttered Bai from her position down on a stretcher. The soldier redirected his glare towards her. "There's no logic behind it. He saved most of us from that first bomb. We'd all be dead otherwise. You're the one who ordered us in there."_

"_His job, I've been told, is to keep _all _of you safe, young lady!" bellowed the officer. "And no one asked for your opinion. You take your orders, you do your job, and that's it. Got it?"_

"_Excuse me sir, but what is your rank?" asked November 11 from where he was supporting April, who had a cut above her eye that was bleeding rather heavily, in the back of the line. __"Are you familiar with the military program that sent us here?"_

"_No__," the man said shortly. "But that doesn't make a lick of difference, got it? As a Lieutenant Colonel, I have authority over all of you!" November 11's brow smoothed out nearly imperceptibly. Even in his dazed state, Hei knew what November 11 was thinking. Someone of that rank who wasn't connected to the research program probably wasn't considered trustworthy or useful by the military. This person was disposable. "Get inside, and I'll have another lecture for you later!"_

"_Oh dear," sighed November 11. "Not another lecture. I'd rather not have such an irrational commander… don't you think, April?" The female Contractor smiled at him calculatingly._

"_I second that," spoke up Mao from the shadows. He was in the form of a black cat he had inhabited earlier in the day. He licked his paw, and grinned widely at the officer's poorly concealed astonishment upon seeing where his voice had come from. "Someone like you, who doesn't listen, is going to be the one who gets us killed. Not Hei."_

_The officer seemed to be getting nervous now. "L-listen. All of you!" blustered the Lieutenant Colonel as he wildly looked around at the group of unfriendly Contractors. "I don't have time to deal with insubordination—"_

"_Well then, you better make time," November 11 told him with a smile. "Because you're about to deal with a lot more than some talking-back."_

"_Wha—" he sputtered as November 11 splashed his water canteen all over him. April reached for her belt and did the same. "What the hell? What are you doing—?" He froze, literally, mid-sentence._

_Bertha, who was standing behind November 11, sighed dramatically. "What are we going to do…? Couldn't you have killed him less conspicuously? Like with a bullet? It'll be pretty obvious you froze his brain solid."_

_November 11 turned to face her with a smile. "True. And humans do tend to be pretty irrational about these things… but I think they'll understand this one. As he said, we're worth a lot of money. And he was throwing our lives away much too recklessly."_

_Bertha shrugged and started walking away. "It's got nothing to do with me. I don't care."_

_Mao shook his head as Bertha disappeared into the barracks. "It's got everything to do with us. We need someone who can keep us alive. We don't want to run into another ambush like that again."_

"_Why not use the Dolls?" Hei suggested lethargically. Everything felt slow, almost dream-like, after the adrenaline and blood-filled battle a couple hours earlier. "Use them for surveillance and tracking, so we don't get ambushed again."_

_November 11 paused in the middle of opening his mouth to reply. He shut his mouth, and lit a cigarette contemplatively. "That wouldn't be a bad idea, if we could get it to work. If we could use Dolls to track people, without the connection being cut..."_

"_But wasn't that too hard for Dolls to manage?" said Mao to himself. "None of the Dolls could spy very well back in the lab. Their spirit kept pulling their souls back to their bodies. Which is why none of the scientists, or us for that matter, care if they survive."_

_Hei shook his head listlessly. He had argued a similar point only yesterday, but he didn't want to bring up Amber's name yet. What she had told him sounded far-fetched, and there was still a strong possibility that she had been lying. So what could he say…? He looked up as he suddenly remembered a conversation he had held with one of the military's scientists years ago. "Dr. Schroeder told me, when I first saw Yin as a Doll, that they should be able to send their specters a couple of miles away. Assuming the Dolls paid enough to be able to move their specter that far away, then the Gate should've given them that, right? Maybe they just need practice…" his voice petered out and he stared exhaustedly at the Contractors gathered in front of him. He hoped he was making sense._

"_Well," said November 11 with a cough as he gingerly inhaled some cigarette smoke. "We'll see if that's true, Hei. If it is, the military might've just thrown away an incredibly valuable asset. Those irrational humans are always getting themselves into trouble."_

"_You're the ones who wrote the Dolls off for dead on the train," Hei reminded him, anger boiling up inside him, seeming to speed up the slowness of the scene. "All of you. If it were up to you, they'd all be dead."_

"_Alright, alright," November 11 said placatingly, holding his hands out in a gesture of peace. "You've got a point. But that's in the past now. We'll all help take care of the Dolls from now on. __If they turn out to be useful, that is.__ Where are they anyways?"_

"_The male one is in the barracks. Yin is back in the truck," April said, indicating the vehicle behind her with a jerk of her thumb. "Our lovely commander thought that she could be some help with bandaging injuries." She snorted in disdain. "He was pretty surprised when she couldn't do anything but stand in the way."_

_Mao shook his furry head slowly. "Well, guess I better go get the other supposedly useless one. Maybe they could end up being the ones who save us after all. That would really be strange…" _

_As Mao left, Hei mentally removed himself from the situation unfolding in front of him. He was so tired, mentally and physically. It had been, as Amber had predicted, not a very good day. He swayed on his feet, and was about to sit down, when everything froze. He blinked and looked around in shock. This couldn't be an after-effect of the adrenaline, right…? Not something this extreme. Mao's tail had frozen as he turned around into the doorway, Bai was in mid-blink, and everyone else was frozen as if time had been stopped. "What the…?"_

"_Hei," he heard someone say, and he whipped around, knives drawn, to face whoever had caused this bizarre situation. It was Amber._

"_Amber," he exhaled, re-sheathing the knives in one fluid movement. "What is this?"_

"_I've stopped time," she informed him casually. "You made a decision that changed the future."_

_Hei stared at her as his worn out brain scrambled to understand what she was saying. "So… what does that mean?"_

"_It means that in about one minute, the barracks behind you is going to explode," Amber told him calmly. "Those Ishbalans you killed had some friends who followed you back here. They're going to destroy the place."_

_His eyes went wide, adrenaline pumping once again. "Then we have to go!" he urged her. "Stop time for everyone else too, and then—"_

"_Sorry, Hei," Amber apologized with a rueful smile. "I can't. My Contract has a limit of sorts on it. I can't do this for long. I've warned you, now go. Run."_

"_Wait!" he yelled. Everything suddenly started to move again, and he froze at the sudden movement._

"_Huh?" Bai said confusedly. "Big Brother? How'd you get over there?"_

"_Get the wounded!" Hei barked at the Contractors around her. "We need to get moving! There's another bomb!"_

"_Where?" November 11 asked him steadily as he tightened his grip on April and prepared to move out._

"_The barracks. Go!" Hei ordered as he bent over and picked up Bai. He sprinted as fast as he could for one of the neighboring buildings. "Get behind the wall!"_

_It was a miracle most of them managed to get behind the building just in time, Hei would reflect later. The explosion occurred just as Bai's foot cleared the edge of the wall. But at the time of the explosion, all Hei could think that he had not made it quick enough. "They didn't make it," he said quietly. "Bertha, that Doll, and Mao… they're gone."_

"_Well, that's unfortunate," November 11 said, standing up and brushing dust off his clothes. "But at least we still have one Doll." Hei spared the truck a quick glance to see that it was completely intact. Yin was probably fine. "But what I want to know," November 11 told him, turning around with an intimidatingly friendly smile on his face. "Is how you knew, twice now, that there would be a bomb. None of us could tell. It was as if someone else gave you a signal."_

_All eyes turned towards him. He gazed back at them in fatigue. "Someone did."_

"_Who?"_

"_Amber. She's that Contractor with golden eyes. Her Contract includes time-travel. She stopped time and warned me."_

_In true Contractor fashion, everyone took the strange news in stride. "That's odd," mused November 11. "I thought she was locked up… And why would she help you? What can you do for her when she's already in Central? That doesn't make any logical sense."_

_He brought up a good point. Why_ was _Amber helping him? There was only one reason he could think of that made sense. "I must be useful sometime in the future," he predicted dully. "She could see it if I was."_

_April shrugged. "Well, whatever. That's fine with me. It's keeping us from getting blown up. Now, let's get out of here, and find someone who can give us a new barracks."_

"_Yes, that sounds fine," November 11 agreed. He gave Hei an appraising look. "Maybe it would be better if we had him in charge from now on though. Especially if Amber, wherever the scientists are holding her, has decided to warn only Hei. When we get back…" November 11's voice seemed to fade as Hei stared straight through him._

_Hei managed to get one dazed look at the burning building before he picked up Bai again and hurried after the remaining Contractors. Everything was changing. And so much had already changed. He gazed uncomprehendingly at the dried blood on his hands, which were curled under Bai, from the man he had murdered earlier. He had killed someone. He had never thought he would be able to do it. But it had been so easy. Just a simple stab, and that man had been done for._

_People were so incredibly fragile._

"_Big Brother," he faintly registered Bai say from his arms. "Are you okay? You're shaking." Why had everything gone wrong…? "Big Brother?" He ignored her. Envy's face flashed in his mind. _Murderer,_ Envy's voice taunted him in his head. _You're just like me._ "Big Brother?"_

I am. I'm just like Envy.

"_Big Brother!" Bai put her hand up to his face and forced him to look down at her. "What's wrong? Answer me!"_

"_Bai." That was right. When Envy had murdered their parents, he had done his best to take care of Bai, to protect her. That was why he had killed. That was why he still could keep going. _ I'm not like you. I won't let myself become like you.

"_I'm fine, Bai," he lied with a tired smile. "It's nothing. Let's keep going."_


	19. Ishbal: Part 4

A/N: I took a bit of artistic license with the explanation of Bai's payment and Amber's ability… The show never really did describe them in detail though, so I think it'll be acceptable. Anyway, I have a good reason behind changing what Darker Than BLACK makes you assume their Contracts are.

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

"_Hei. Another one. Male."_

_Hei's head whipped up from where he was resting on the remains of a stone wall as he heard Yin's voice in the radio that was sitting a foot or so away from him. "Where's he coming from?"_

"_Right."_

_He jumped up, pulled out a knife, and as soon as the Ishbalan had turned the corner, he had a knife cleanly thrown into his head. Hei walked over to the still-twitching body, yanked out the blade, and wiped it down with the soiled cloth he carried around with him constantly. "It's okay. He's dead."_

_Okay was a relative term, Hei thought grimly to himself as he stared down at the bleeding corpse of the nameless Ishbalan, whose facial features were contorted into a surprised grimace. Still, strangely enough, he did feel better when he was on a mission than when he was back at the barracks and had time to mull over what he had done. Out here he had to focus on staying alive, his mind was kept distracted from what he was doing for the most part. _

'_For the most part' being the key phrase. He could feel his hands trembling as he stared dumbly down at the Ishbalan. Would he ever get used to this? _

"_April. Injured," Yin's dreary voice reported from the radio. "Not bad. Can't get up."_

_One of the few improvements since his arrival in Ishbal was Yin. She was treated with more… not necessarily respect, as the Contractors seemed to believe that Yin had lost her ability to think when her ability to communicate effectively had been taken from her. But at least she was cared for adequately now, and with good reason. It was useful, having a Doll that could watch for enemies from far away. All his efforts into training Yin to be able to send her specter farther away had paid off. All they had to do was bring a radio with them, and Yin would tell them all they needed to know about the enemy's location. In this desert almost all the soldiers on both sides carried water canteens after all. _

"_Where's she?" Hei asked her, tearing his eyes away from the corpse._

"_Forward. Past two buildings. On ground."_

_He set off in the direction she had indicated, and found April sprawled on the ground. She was clutching an obviously broken leg, but it didn't seem to be anything life-threatening._

"_You wouldn't… happen to have a beer… would you?" she rasped. "Mine are… gone."_

"_Can you wait a little longer to pay your Contract?" asked Hei __as he quickly scanned the area for any enemies. Without the radio to warn him of attacks, he had to be a lot more cautious.__ "I don't have any. Do you know someone who does?"_

_April sighed, and there was strain evident in her voice when she spoke up again. "November 11. But hurry up. I really need to pay my Contract. _Soon_." Uncharacteristically, her composed voice cracked on the last word._

"_Do you know where he is?"_

"_No," April responded tremulously. Her body was starting to shake. "Go ask Bai. I saw her around where that church was. I can't do anything right now."_

_Hei nodded and took off in the direction she had indicated. _

"_Hurry," he could hear faintly from behind him as he sprinted to the now-ruined church of Ishbal. Bodies littered the streets—the town had been completely destroyed. He averted his eyes as he saw the mangled corpse of a child and kept on running. _You can't do anything to help that kid now,_ he chanted to himself inside his head. _Just keep running. There's nothing you can do._ And unfortunately, it was partially true; as long as he remained resolved to stay with Bai, he could do nothing. Escape was impossible at the moment; the government had far too many eyes keeping constant watch over the Contractors. So he stayed. He had to protect Bai. Even if she and the other Contractors were the ones killing most of the civilians…even though she had probably been the one to kill that child alongside the road. As selfish as it sounded, if there was anything to be thankful for about his new position as the leader of the Contractor team, it was that he didn't have to kill quite as many people himself since the Contractors were so much better at it than he was. He was mostly relegated to planning and protection._

"_Bai," he called out as he approached the ruins of the church. He slowed down to a jog. "November 11?"_

"_I'm here," he heard from behind a particularly large pile of rubble. Hei blinked in surprise as November 11 stood up from where he had been crouching beforehand._

"_What were you doing?"_

"_Trying to look after you sister. She's acting odd."_

Odd?_ "I'll look after her. Can you go help April?" He pointed towards where April was. "She's injured a couple blocks down and needs to pay her Contract."_

"_Alright," November 11 agreed easily and loped off in the direction Hei had came. Hei returned his attention to where November 11 had been before, and slowly rounded the corner. Bai was there, sitting next to the body of an Ishbalan child. She was staring at it intensely. It was almost as if… she was preparing to attack it._

"_Bai?" Hei asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"_

"_Big Brother," Bai acknowledged him without looking up._

"_What are you doing?" Hei edged uncomfortably. He tried not to look at the dead child and kept his eyes trained on her._

"_Thinking."_

"_About what?"_

_Bai slowly looked up from the child's body into Hei's eyes. "I don't know why but… seeing all these bodies reminded me of Envy. And what he did to us." She gazed back down at the dead child. "Envy would be happy, seeing this."_

_Hei could feel his expression become wooden. He swallowed back bile. "Yes. He would."_

"_I remember thinking that Envy was a monster," Bai said thoughtfully. "When I first met him. Because he killed everyone we ever knew. Mommy and Daddy, and all our friends. Because of me, everyone in this town is dead. So I guess… does that make me a monster?"_

_Hei averted his eyes from her gaze, only to have them land on another corpse. He squeezed his eyes shut. "Yes. We're all monsters now, Bai."

* * *

_

"_Big Brother?"_

"_Hunh?" Hei grunted, looking up at the sound of his sister's voice. She was looking at him strangely, as if he were sick. "What is it?"_

"_Are you feeling alright? For a while now, you've been acting stra—"_

"_I'm fine, Bai," Hei interrupted coolly. "Don't worry about it."_

_Bai rocked back on her heels in surprise. "Oh. But you don't look fine."_

"_It's nothing," Hei informed her. The words sounded strange, even to himself. It was amazing how much someone could change in such a short amount of time. Just a few short months ago, around the time their barracks had exploded, he would have been elated at the fact that Bai had been able to notice that he was acting differently__. But now, things like that…it was like he just couldn't feel happy anymore. Like he shouldn't be able to enjoy anything, not after he had stolen the lives of so many people already.__ He remembered. Images of bloodied corpses flickered before his vision, a nightmare just waiting to pounce, to become a full-fledged flashback. He shook his head slightly, trying to ground himself in the present. He trained his gaze on the map he was looking at. He didn't want Bai to be here. If he was going to break down, he wanted to do it quietly and alone. "I'm trying to plan out the next target. Don't you have something to do?"_

"_No," Bai responded as she sat down next to him. "Not really. So, what's wrong? You used to be sad when you came back from missions. Now you're just…nothing."_

"_Being sad isn't going to bring anyone back," Hei told her curtly. _Mama! Wake up!_ He paused as the cry of the Ishbalan child orphaned by their last attack echoed in his mind. The child hadn't known any better. Hei took a forcibly even breath. _Focus on the present. Don't think about what happened afterwards._ "It's just wasting time I could be using to plan out the next attack."_

_Bai's brow furrowed. "You sound like a Contractor."_

"_Which is logical since I spend so much time with Contractors, isn't it?" Hei retorted as he annotated a potential weak spot for attack on his map. He would probably send in someone to set off a bomb there—there was a lot of dry firewood collected in that house, according to Yin. The ensuing flames and explosions would cause enough confusion that it would be easier to slaughter everyone. He put his pen down slowly, staring at the 'X' on the map that would doom so many people to death. That was the negative side to commanding the Contractors. They might be the ones committing the majority of the genocide, but he was the one telling them how to do it. He closed his eyes, feeling revolted with himself, but otherwise, his expression didn't change. "I thought that would be something a Contractor would want in a commander anyways. Having a Contractor-like leader."_

"_That is what a Contractor would want," agreed Bai. "Because that person's Contract would be telling them that it was the best way to survive."_

_Hei looked up, sensing something hiding beneath the words in her tone. "What are you saying?"_

"_You're not a Contractor, Big Brother. Why are you trying to be like one?"_

"_It's the easiest way to deal with it." He hurriedly shut his mouth and returned his attention to the map, the 'X' seeming to pop out at him compared to the rest of the map. He hoped she hadn't caught his slip._

"_Deal with what?" _ Damn it.

"_Nothing."_

"_It's not nothing. You used to barely be able to do anything after exterminating a town, you were so upset. Now you just come back and go to work. Something's wrong." Bai leaned forward. "Why won't you tell me?"_

"_Nothing's wrong," Hei told her._

"_You're lying."_

"_I'm not."_

"_When you sleep, you have nightmares," Bai told him, her brow furrowed as she tried to solve the mystery of Hei's behavior. "Doesn't that mean something's bothering you?"_

"_Normal people have nightmares all the time," Hei informed her. "There's nothing wrong with me." _

"_So killing doesn't bother you?" Bai asked curiously._

_Hei paused for a second. His face hardened into the placid mask he was learning to wear whenever the topic of killing came up. "Of course not. I like killing."_

"_Now I know you're lying," Bai said with a huff as she sat back and folded her arms. "If there's one thing I know about you, it's that you hate killing."_

"_Why are you putting so much effort into this?" Hei asked her. "Isn't your Contract telling you this is a waste of time?"_

"_No," Bai answered him, her voice suddenly monotone. He winced internally; he hadn't meant to use the hated Contract to get her to stop the questioning. "It doesn't have anything to do with this. I'm asking you as your little sister what's bothering you. The Contract is letting me help you because if you go insane or fall apart on me, I'll lose a bodyguard."_

_Hei leaned back slowly and looked away. His conviction not to answer her was slowly weakening. "It's nothing. Like I said."_

"_Big Brother," Bai said quietly. "Stop it. We both know you're doing a poor job acting. Just say it."_

_Hei stared at the ground and answered in a low voice, "I hate killing. I see the people I kill in my nightmares every night. Most of those people did nothing wrong." He glanced up slowly. "Do you remember that one town we attacked the other day, the one we were told was harboring some warrior priests? There were a lot of people trying to escape. They weren't even remotely a threat. I could've let them go. I heard once that some famous State Alchemist let some Ishbalans go__. Armstrong, I think his name was. But I killed them all, just because I was ordered to." He took a shuddering breath, trying to block out the image of bodies in a pool of blood that was becoming less dreamlike and more opaque, blocking out Bai from his sight. He shook his head vehemently and pinched the back of his hand. He was right here, not on the battlefield. Or more accurately, the slaughtering field. He continued shakily, "I guess… I know that acting depressed isn't going to change anything. I'm going to be ordered to kill Ishbalans. So I'm trying to save as many people on our side as possible by trying to plan out the attacks better."_

"_But you're still sad because you don't like to kill," Bai finished. She sat down on his bed behind him, and he twisted around to see that her expression was thoughtful. "But if you hate it so much, then why don't you just refuse to do it and __get court-martialed__?"_

"_I think you know the answer to that, Bai," Hei told her quietly. Everything he was doing, as much as he despised himself for doing it, was for his sister. He had to be by her side in order to protect her. Even after Bai's transformation into a Contractor, he still valued his sister's life higher than those of the countless Ishbalan strangers he had killed. It was wrong, and he knew it, but he would continue his selfishness if it meant keeping Bai alive._

_Bai just stared at him. "So that's it," she murmured. "Interesting. Humans think so differently than Contractors. But you know, I think I can understand it, at least a little bit." Hei's eyebrows raised, and she answered his unspoken question. "Contractors can't dream, that's what I've always been told. But… my payment is to have nightmares."_

"_It's not to fall asleep?" Hei asked her in consternation. "You always told me that it was! Why did you lie?"_

"_The Contract didn't allow me to trust you with that info," she told him._

"_And it does now?"_

_Bai shrugged uncommitedly and avoided his question. "Anyways, I can understand the nightmares you're dealing with, or at least I can when I'm asleep. I can't now. But when I'm dreaming, the Contract has no power over me. I'm human again. And I can fully regret what I've done."_

_Hei looked at her in silence for a minute, processing what she had said with a cheerless smile. "We're a really messed up pair, aren't we?"_

_Bai gave a light, insincere laugh. "I think you're right. Well, I hope you get better, Big Brother."_

_And with that, she left the room, leaving Hei alone to plan the next massacre.

* * *

_

"_How're you holding up?"_

_Hei opened his eyes to see Amber looking down at him in concern from where he was lying on his bed. He averted his gaze. "Why's everyone so worried about my mental state today? First Bai, now you."_

"_Because you're obviously having problems," Amber told him bluntly. "It's easy for us to tell."_

_He shook his head absentmindedly. "Technically, you shouldn't care, being Contractors."_

"_Bai already told you why she could care," Amber reminded him. He didn't ask how she knew what Bai had said. Amber always seemed to know odd facts about his life that no one else knew, even Bai. She was strange, that was for sure. She would pop up whenever something important happened, and then disappear the next day as if she had never existed. But she had saved him by warning him of impending attacks more times than he could count. If weren't for Amber and Yin, he knew that almost all the Contractors, and himself for that matter, would be dead by now._

_He let his head sink into the pillow on his bed as he watched her curiously. He still couldn't get a good reading on her. She was obviously a Contractor, as evidenced by her ability to travel through time and the fact that another Contractor named Amber was back at Central. The Amber of this time, she called her. But… Amber didn't act much like a Contractor at all. Her actions were confusing to say the least. Most of the time, he couldn't fathom how some of her decisions were rational. And he to this day hadn't ever seen her pay for her Contract. Maybe it was just something subtle, something he wouldn't normally notice._

_Amber's eyes seemed to soften as he looked at her. She sat down on the bed next to him, not breaking her gaze. "A Contractor can care about other people, you know. All you have to do is convince your Contract that it's logical to be able to care about that person to some extent. Because if you care about someone, they might be more loyal to you in return." Hei blinked as he considered this. Maybe that was why Bai had been acting slightly more human lately. Like when she had told him about her true payment. It hadn't really been necessary for her to do so…_

_He was so caught up in his musing that he didn't notice when Amber's eyebrows pulled together as she glanced down towards Hei's hand. She tentatively reached out, and took hold of his hand, her fingers gently closing around his._

_Hei looked up at her sharply. Yet another contradictory action. She didn't look like she was going to attack him, but then again, she was a Contractor. Contractors could lie better than any human. What was the purpose of—his breath caught as she suddenly leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. His mind went blank. Before he could really register what she had just done, Amber leaned back and gave him a small, forlorn smile._

_Hei let his usual, emotionless mask fall into place as he tried to process what happened, not letting any weaknesses show through. His heartbeat belatedly picked up pace, as if he was in danger. But he wasn't in danger. If anyone had been in danger, it had to have been Amber, who had just made herself incredibly vulnerable by… kissing… him. __He suddenly averted his gaze away from Amber to hide the embarrassment he was sure would be apparent in his eyes. He hadn't exactly ever had the chance to get kissed before, being in a lab full of Contractors. And though several female soldiers had already asked him out, something that had been a huge surprise to him, getting caught up in any relationship at all would only direct his attention away from protecting Bai._

_So… his emotions swirled in unintelligible circles as he tried to think of a reason for her actions. What had brought that on? He hadn't ever done anything for her… was she trying to get him on her side so she could manipulate him? _

"_Sorry," he could hear Amber say in a soft apology. His glance flickered in her direction. She had returned to her former sitting position on the bed, facing stiffly away and studiously keeping her gaze away from him. "I shouldn't have done that. You aren't able to trust anyone right now, and with good reason. What I just did is only going to hurt you. Please forget about it." She stood up, the bed creaking as she did so, and started to walk away._

"_Wait," Hei told her in an admirably normal voice. Keeping his emotions under control had given him good practice. She paused and turned her head slightly so she could look at him. He scrutinized her expression. She was so hard to figure out. "Why?" he asked her in his controlled voice. "Why'd you…?" If her…kissing him…was for an irrational reason, maybe Amber had somehow been able to change. Maybe there was hope for Bai. His heart was pounding a little faster than it would for that reason alone though. _

Stop it,_ he commanded his heart grumpily. _This is no time to get caught up in something like that. _He was, admittedly, an emotional wreck at the moment, vulnerable to emotional manipulation like this. He couldn't let this sway him, the fact that that kiss had been the first even remotely affectionate action or comment directed towards him ever since… he had to think for a moment… ever since Dr. Knox had ruffled his hair in what seemed like a lifetime ago. He was starved for attention, to have someone truly be able to care about him. Bai wasn't capable of it; her Contract would make her unhesitatingly betray him if he ever got to be a burden to her. He couldn't afford to let himself care about another Contractor. That, as Amber had admitted, would only hurt him in the long run, whenever she ended up betraying him. And she would. Contractors always had a motive._

_Amber seemed to be able to read his thoughts. "No matter what I say, you're not going to trust me, are you?" Her eyes lowered when he didn't respond. "Well… how about to compensate for what I just did, I tell you more about my ability?" she asked him slowly. "Not even the researchers know that much about it. Just the basics. That's why the me of this time is still back at Central. They're torturing me, trying to get me to tell them about key events in the future."_

_Well, that was a strange jump. From kissing him to telling him about her ability. What was she really here for? His heartbeat had returned to normal, and his moment of insanity when he had wished that Amber could have actually meant that kiss, passed. He could think clearly again. So Hei allowed some skepticism to seep into his voice as he said, "But I already know about your ability. You can travel through time."_

"_Yes, but what does that mean to you?" Amber asked with exaggerated patience as she turned around to look at him. "Do you think of time travel as jumping from one point on a timeline to another?" Hei shrugged. It didn't really matter to him, so he hadn't ever given it much thought. Amber sighed. "You haven't changed, have you? You never did really care for abstract thinking like that." She sighed again as she sat down at the entranceway and leaned against the door._

"_Alright then," she began slowly. "Let's assume you're thinking of time as a timeline. Which it isn't by the way, but just imagine that it is. Imagine that for every possible decision that you can make at one point in time, there is a branch off of the timeline. A separate dimension, or a parallel universe if you will, each in which you choose a different decision. For example, as strange as it sounds, there's a parallel universe out there somewhere, with the only difference being that one day you chose to have ham instead of turkey in your sandwich. Everything else is the same." Hei raised his eyebrows skeptically. "But there are also alternate timelines in which Envy killed you. Or when you didn't kill that Ishbalan that attacked you. Or if Envy never even came to kill your family at all." _

_Hei's eyes widened slightly as he considered the possibilities this offered. Somewhere, in one of these alternate timelines Amber was talking about, was there a Hei who lived a normal life with his family? Was he happy? Hei looked down at his hands. If what Amber was saying was true, why was it _him _who was like this out of all those other possible Hei's?_

_He looked back up to see Amber watching him closely. "So… there you go. My ability is to jump to any point in time a decision is made, where those alternate realities converge. From that convergence point I can go to any alternate timeline I want as well."_

"_Have you?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Have you been to a…a different timeline?" he felt ridiculous asking the question. There was no way something like that should be possible._

"_I've visited several others. So…don't think you're the only one in this situation out of all those possible timelines, Hei," she told him, giving him a knowing look. He averted his eyes again. "You don't have very good luck in general. Pretty much no matter what decision you make, out of all those possible futures, there isn't a way for you to have a happy ending."_

"_So you're telling me that I'm going to be miserable the rest of my life, no matter what I do?" Hei asked her defeatedly. He supposed that shouldn't surprise him._

"_No…" Amber told him slowly. "Because I'm changing your future for you."_

_His confusion must have managed to show on his face because she answered his unspoken question._

"_You should have died several times already. I'm messing with time, and I have to admit, I don't care how it affects everyone else. There are and will be good people who would have survived in this timeline if you had died, Hei." He flinched, the flashback that had been just under the surface earlier in the day bubbling up for a split second. _A dead Ishbalan stared blankly at him, his expression stuck in a crazed smile._ He shook his head roughly, trying to stay in the present. The past was just adding to the swirl of emotions her statements were inducing._

"_But why?" he asked her. It didn't make any sense. "Why are you even helping me at all?" He remembered the excuse he had presented November 11. "Is it because I'll be of some help to you in the future?"_

_She looked away, and said in an uncharacteristically subdued voice, "No. That's not it."_

"_Then what is it?" he pressed her._

_She just shook her head and looked up at him with her strangely emotive eyes. "I can't tell you. It might take away your last chance of finally getting some happiness if I do. __If I tell you the truth, and if you believe me, you might start to trust me, and then…later, you won't be able to ever trust anyone else again.__ If you want to have a chance at happiness in the future, Hei… one of the things you'll have to do is to either forget about me, or…" She paused for a moment, and her eyes flashed with some emotion that he wasn't able to decipher. "Or you'll have to hate me."_

_Hei shook his head slowly. "You're not making any sense."_

_She gave him a wistful sort of smile. "In short, if you get too attached to me, it'll be a lot worse for you later."_

_And Hei finally understood. She was warning him that she would betray him sometime in the future, and that he had better not take that kiss to heart. A betrayal was to be expected, coming from a Contractor, but… why had she bothered to warn him about it? It was if she was planning to turn on him, but despite that, was trying to keep him as happy as possible for when she did. He still couldn't figure her out. Amber seemed to make decisions that had a basis in logic, but were swayed by irrationality at the same time. Almost like a human._

_He looked up to see Amber watching him a smile playing at the corner of her lips. The smile lingered for a moment longer before it disappeared, and she slowly stood up. "Bye, Hei. You'll be fine without me for a while longer. Take care until I see you again. I—" she paused, her eyes searching his, but then she bit her lip and left the room without another word._

_The room was silent once more._

_Back to normal, Hei mused as he leaned back into his pillow—the position he had been in when Amber had entered the room. Everything was the same as before Amber's visit, but not at the same time. For one, maybe he should re-examine his conception of Contractors. Amber seemed capable enough of finding ways to be illogical, maybe Bai could as well. Or maybe Amber was just an anomaly._

_He shrugged to himself. No matter how long he thought about it, nothing would change anyways. If it turned out that Bai_ could_ change, he couldn't do anything to speed up or slow down the process, as far as he knew. Amber might be trying to keep him alive and as happy as possible for whatever reason, but… neither he nor she would be able to change anything. Not his situation, or the fact that Bai was a Contractor, or the fact that he had to kill people. Not while he was here, and not while Bai was alive._

_He closed his eyes, preparing to succumb to sleep and the nightmares it brought with it. _

_Tomorrow would be yet another massacre._


	20. Ishbal: Part 5

A/N: Hope the accent is readable…

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

"_The war in Ishbal is over!"_

"_We're going home!"_

"_No, you idiot. Now we have to clean up this mess."_

"_I need to get some souvenirs! Anyone want to come with me?"_

_Hei walked through the streets of the rejoicing Amestrian soldiers in a daze. He could barely comprehend what had just been announced. It was barely a week ago that his team had taken out another target, as usual. But now…it was over. It had been years since he had first come to Ishbal. Five, tortuously long years. But it was all finally over. He watched the celebration and tried to imprint that thought in his mind. Did this mean that he would never again have to kill anyone? Was he free? No, he doubted that. The military wouldn't just let a valuable asset go. So…_

_What was he going to do now?_

_Escape was out of the question. It had taken him a couple of years of scheming and hoping, but he had finally conceded that the military was far too powerful to escape from. For a while, he had considered using the military's biggest flaw, corruption, to escape, but… he wouldn't be able to go far, especially in this environment. There was a sizable military force stationed at even the smallest of hamlets in the Ishbalan region, allegedly to ensure that no Ishbalan militants escaped the bloodbath waiting for them. Stopping by a town would be impossible, and there was no way he would be able to survive without resupplying—the desert was merciless._

_His surroundings were a vivid reminder of that fact. Even among the rejoicing soldiers eager to go back home, there were wounded men lined up in the shade the hospital tents provided, staring blankly out at the revelers. An occasional moan would pierce the air from a veteran whose leg had been blown off, or an amputee, or…or any of the hundreds of the other critically wounded soldiers huddled in the hospital tents. The hospital was one of the most awful places in all of Ishbal, in Hei's opinion. The stench was revolting, and there was always a horde of flies surrounding it, waiting to crawl along the wounds of the injured. Those who were well enough to sit up were relegated to shooing away the flies, but Hei could see several such men shirking their duties, a bottle in hand. Apparently no one had the heart to make them work. _

"_Hey!" Hei turned his head to see one such drunken soldier stagger to his feet from where he had been sitting near the hospital tent, a bloody bandage screening his right eye from sight. The man swaggered drunkenly up to him, lugging a bottle of whiskey after him. "Hey!" the man repeated with a hiccup. He took a sloppy swig of his drink. "Where'dcha work?"_

_Hei watched the man's antics coolly. "You should go back to the hospital. They'll need your help."_

"_Ah wuz undah the Flame Al-ker-mist!" slurred the man, oblivious to Hei's response as he lifted the jug to emphasize his point. He swayed as the motion set him off-balance. "A real fine gent. __He wuz good at makin' flames__. Saved lotsa sol-jahs." The man peered up at him suddenly as if just realizing that he was actually talking to someone besides himself. "Do yah know why Ah'm __here__?"_

_Hei sighed resignedly and started walking off. "You shouldn't get drunk in public. You're going to get demoted."_

"_Ah'll tell yah why!" rambled the man as he stumbled after Hei. "Cuz mah best bud died yest-ah-day. Yest-ah-day. Ain't that hilarious? He coulda gone home. But he died." Hei halted in his tracks. The man swayed again and fell over. "Ain't that hilarious?" he repeated to himself as tears rolled down his cheeks. "The wah's ovah. An' he…" the man's speech petered out and he stared at the bottle with his unbandaged eye._

"_Don' make me go back in there," the drunken soldier pleaded him in a suddenly quieter voice. "Don' make me. Please."_

_Hei hesitated before turning around, walking over to the man's side, and squatting beside him. "Why?"_

"_I kin smell it in there. Death. Please," the man begged him brokenly, reaching out to grab the collar of Hei's shirt. "Don' make me go back! I jus' wanna forget, and them hospital folks won't let me!" He let a small sob escape, his eyes wild. "An' the drinkin' don' help. It don'. I can' forget. He's dead." The man released his hold on Hei and dropped the uncapped bottle as he clutched at his chest as if trying to squeeze out his heart. His uncapped bottle spilled liquor all over his clothes, increasing the stench of alcohol about him. "Dead. He ain't never comin' back. An'…an'…" The man's speech slowed, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he finally passed out with a thump on the ground._

_Hei considered the man for a moment. But just as he had decided to move the man away from the hospital, a nurse poked her head out from inside the tent._

"_Excuse me!" the harassed-looking nurse said as she jogged out towards Hei. "Excuse me! Sorry, but can you bring him back in for me? We've got a surgery going, and—"_

"_No."_

"—_Another amputation of all things…wait, what?" the nurse finished incredulously. "Did I hear you right?"_

"_No," Hei told her steadily. "You're too busy to look after him. I'm bringing him back to his unit."_

_The nurse stared at him for a second before giving a strained chuckle and shaking her head. "Listen. I've had four people die this morning under my watch. I've had a really bad day. Can you please just do what I say?"_

"_He's had a worse day."_

"_Fine then," the nurse said in exasperation. "I'll take him back myself."_

_Hei's glare seemed to bring her up short. "Who gave him the liquor?"_

"_What?" the nurse asked, looking even more frazzled as she gave Hei a confused look._

"_Is that your policy, to let depressed patients drink until they pass out?"_

_The nurse swelled in anger until she looked ready to burst. "Look," she told Hei through gritted teeth. "We're out of supplies. Everyone is. Whatever we can do to try to help them, we can. He's lost an eye, and alcohol is all we have to ease the pain."_

"_I'd say he's had enough to drink."_

_The nurse cast a cursory glance at the man and then sighed distractedly, running her hands through her hair. "Fine, just go."_

"_Can you tell me where Mustang's unit is?"_

"_Go up to those tents over there, then take a right and a left," she said automatically, indicating the direction with a pointing finger._

"_Nurse!" one of the doctors suddenly yelled out. "We need a nurse here right now!" The woman's head shot up and she sprinted back towards the hospital tent without another word._

_Hei headed off towards the tents, dragging the unconscious man along with him. He was heavy, and Hei laid him down as he reached the general area the nurse had directed him to, and looked around for a place to bring the unconscious man. He would have to go search for someone to ask where to put the drunken man, but first he should set him in the shade…He dragged the man over to the shade cast by the nearest tent._

"_Hey, didja hear?" he heard an excited voice from the tent behind him say as he prepared to leave. "The Fuhrer himself is comin'! In a couple of days! Apparently he wants to give a big congratulations speech to us troops." Hei paused for a second. He hadn't heard about the Fuhrer's arrival. Either this was just a rumor, or he was coming to personally escort the Contractors back to Central. An unpleasant shiver ran down Hei's spine at the thought. Fuhrer Bradley was one of the few people that even Contractors were extremely wary of. They had all seen what the Fuhrer could do when he lost his temper._

"_Psh. What a load of crap," grumbled another voice. "I don't get why you like him so much. What's he done for us beside send us over to this god-forsaken wasteland? I don't owe him nothin'." Hei couldn't agree more with the man's assessment._

"_Hey now," said the first voice nervously. "You better not go sayin' that too much. You don't wanna get court-martialed do ya?"_

"_Who's gonna report me? Not you guys…right?" the second man asked threateningly._

"_You've got nothing to worry about. The man who ordered this massacre is no friend of mine," a third voice told him quietly._

_The first voice laughed nervously. "You better be careful too, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang."_

_Hei looked up sharply. _Mustang? The person who leads this man's unit?

_Hei heard this Mustang person speak up in his quiet voice again. "Trying to be a good little officer by following orders has only led me to betraying what I think is right."_

_Another voice groaned. "Not this again. Listen Mr. Flame Alchemist sir, you saved countless lives of soldiers by toastin' the Ishbalans before they had a chance to kill us. No one's blaming you." Hei stooped over to pick up the man again and headed towards the tent._

"_I see," the quiet voice said. There was a short pause. "What about human experimentation? What purpose is there to that?" Hei stopped short where he stood, the unconscious man's arm still slung over his shoulder. The man's hand flopped bonelessly near his face, but he barely noticed. _Human experimentation?

"_Huh?" asked one of the men. "What're you saying?"_

"_I mean they ordered me to burn innocent Ishbalans alive. To measure the effects of pain on the human body," Mustang said, that soft voice filled with a self-loathing Hei was all too familiar with. "That saved no one but myself. And it hurt and killed a hell of a lot of people."_

_A shocked pause filled the tent. Hei couldn't bring himself to enter the tent. Not while this man was confessing to something like this._

"_Listen, Roy," a new voice said resignedly. "It already happened. Moping around isn't doing anything for you or for the people you killed. If you keep staying depressed like this, nothing will change."_

"_So what do you suggest I do, Hughes?" Mustang asked the man in an exhausted voice. "I'm a criminal of the worst sort. My hands will never be clean. There's nothing I can do to change that."_

"_Then don't aim to. Try to help people anyways, with those blood-stained hands of yours."_

"_How?"_

"_You tell me that. Once you figure it out, let me know, and I just might help you."_

_There was another short pause. "Thanks," Mustang muttered. The silence that followed was laden with tension._

_Hughes snorted in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood. "Hey, you know, once we get back…I can introduce you to Gracia! The sight of her radiant face will heal all your wounds."_

_Mustang mumbled something intelligible._

"_Nothing can come between me and Gracia!" Hughes shouted in response. The other men in the tent chuckled quietly, the tension slowly dissipating. "She's absolutely perfect, so kind and beautiful!" He sighed dreamily. "And of course, if I was to choose between supporting you or staying with her, it would absolutely be in her favor."_

"_Hey!" Mustang finally protested in a feeble voice. _

"_You haven't met her! You couldn't understand! Maybe if I showed you some pictures? You wanna see? Huh? Huh?"_

"_For the millionth time Hughes, no I do not!" Mustang said more strongly. "I have her picture memorized by now!"_

"_Good! Having her heavenly face imprinted in your memory can only be a good thing. Except…" Hughes said with a sharp gasp. "Except if you fall in love with her too, and try to steal her away! No! I won't let you!"_

"_Uh… Hughes?"_

"_When you meet her, you can see but don't touch! Got it?"_

"_Excuse me?" Hei started as someone hesitantly tapped him from behind and had to make a conscious effort to restrain himself from stabbing the man on reflex. "Um…did you bring him back from the hospital tents?" he asked, indicating the unconscious man._

_Hei nodded, and the face of the man who had tapped him on the shoulder broke out into a relieved smile. "Good. He wasn't doing so well in there before. Don't worry, we'll take care of him. I'll take him."_

_Hei nodded, handed the man over, and abruptly walked away. He wanted to get out of this place even more than he had around the hospital tents._

If you keep staying depressed like this, nothing will change…try to help people anyways, with those blood-stained hands of yours…let me know, and I just might help you.

_This Mustang person had been in a similar sort of situation as him. He also had killed innocent people, and regretted it. But Mustang had a supportive friend, and the chance to leave the military when this war was over. Hei had to admit he was slightly jealous. He didn't want to listen anymore, to hear what he might've had if he had been a human not associated with Contractors in this war._

_But Hughes's advice was good, in any case. He had already learned long ago that moping around got him nowhere. Sitting around all day in depression didn't change the fact that he had to kill people. Killing was a fact of life, and as much as he hated it, it wasn't something he had control over. Not if he wanted to protect Bai. But… would it really okay to try to help people after what he had done, like that Hughes person had said? Even with his blood-stained hands? He wasn't sure that he could do anything besides killing anymore. It was the only job he had ever known.

* * *

_

_Several days later, Hei stretched lazily as he opened the barracks door and ambled inside. He hadn't had to kill anyone ever since the war had officially ended, which would usually be sufficient to put him in a good mood. __But he had also just spent an hour or so looking up at the stars. Stars fascinated him for a reason he couldn't explain, they always had. Even as a kid, stargazing had been a hobby of his before Envy had kidnapped him and Bai. It was nice to have the time to do something he wanted, just for fun, without worrying about dying, or protecting Bai, or anything else he had to worry about on a daily basis. Peace was a pleasant luxury._

_He walked down the hall and reached out to put his hand on the door handle to Bai's room. __He was half-hoping that maybe he could get Bai to come look at the stars next time too.__ But a familiar voice that he hadn't heard in quite a while warned him that Bai wasn't alone in her room._

"_So, that's everything."_

_He blinked. _Amber? What's she doing here?_ He hadn't seen her in years, ever since she had left that day she had kissed him._

"_Are you absolutely sure?" he heard another voice respond to her. _Bai?

"_Yes. I suppose I don't have much proof besides what I showed you before. But if you don't do it, he will die soon. And without him, so will you, and everyone else, before long."_

"_It's practically suicide," Bai's voice declared calmly._

"_But even so… isn't it better to help him now rather than have everyone die?" Amber asked her with a slight urgency marring her usually calm voice._

"_But why now? And why should I try to kill _that _person?"_

"_If you do manage to succeed, that would be the best person to kill. Bai, if you don't do this, he'll be chained down by the military right until the point where he dies a miserable death. I know you don't want that. It's just a matter of convincing your rational side that it's necessary."_

"_I can't just decide something is logical. It either is or it isn't."_

"_I know. Believe me, I know." There was a rustle of fabric, as if someone had stood up. "But I know you can do it. You're one of the most human Contractors here, __all thanks to your brother and Yin__."_

"_What?" Bai asked reflexively in confusion. "No, I'm a monster. I kill people, and I can't even regret it __when I'm awake__."_

"_Are you telling me you have never manipulated your Contract before? Like when you convinced yourself it was logical to save your brother after that train explosion all those years ago? You're different, Bai, because you're fighting the situation you've been given. Think about it. Now, if you'll excuse me." Hei heard footsteps coming to the door, but as the door opened to reveal Amber behind it, he didn't bother to hide or pretend he hadn't been listening._

"_What is this?" he growled. He knew what it was—Amber had finally decided to betray him as all Contractors did. That was the only possible reason for her actions. "Are you trying to get Bai killed, Amber?"_

_She smiled at him sadly. "I knew you'd be listening. But if you hadn't heard a bit of our conversation, you might think Bai was delusional when it happens later."_

"_When what happens?" Hei spat out. "Leave my sister alone! You're not going to get her killed just as the war ends!"_ Just like the friend of that drunk soldier._ His hands flew to his knife handles on his belt. "You saved us all those times. I don't want to do this." He drew the knives, and placed a blade against the side of her neck._

"_I'm glad that you don't. But this is worth it. I'm sorry, Hei. But killing me now… It wouldn't change anything. Everything's been set in motion. Besides, no matter how much you pretend otherwise, you've always hated killing." Amber's eyes took on a faraway look. "You always have."_

"_That's not a good enough reason," Hei told her as he pressed the knife against her neck. Tiny beads of blood formed and quickly trickled down her neck._

"_Big Brother, stop!" Bai commanded from the doorway. Hei froze and glanced back her way. "It's not what you think. She's just trying to help you."_

"_And killing you will help me?" Hei said with a slightly raised eyebrow. "I don't think so."_

_Amber sighed. "Take care of Yin, Hei. You're going to need her."_

"_Yin?" Hei asked confusedly. "What do you—?"_

"_Bye!" Amber giggled suddenly with a wave, and then she was simply gone, as if she had never been there._

"_She's gone…" Hei murmured unnecessarily as he looked at the blade splotched with blood. "She must have used her ability." He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it down absentmindedly, thinking over what had just occurred. As he put away the bloodied handkerchief, he noticed that Bai was staring at him.  
_

"_Big Brother," Bai spoke up. "Don't worry about what she said. I'm not stupid enough to go kill myself. It's okay."_

"_Yeah," Hei agreed a bit shakily. "You better not." A tense quiet descended on them. He cast around in his mind wildly for a subject change. "So… do you know why she was talking about Yin?"_

"_She's in the back in the room now and was listening to our conversation earlier," Bai informed him. "She insisted that Yin should be with us. I don't know if Yin even understood any of it though. She just stared straight ahead, just like always."_

"_I'm sure she understood," Hei told Bai, glad to be rid of the frightening topic of Bai's possible death. "Dolls aren't stupid."_

"_And how do you know?" asked Bai curiously. "I can never get more than a couple words out of Yin."_

"_Really? She's talked quite a bit to me. For a Doll, that is."_

"_Huh," Bai murmured. "So… Amber was right."_

"_About what?"_

"_Nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it. Let's go in."_

_Hei stared at her retreating form in consternation as she walked back inside. _Nothing? Don't worry about it?_ Was it just him, or… Was Bai acting like he had, whenever he had tried to conceal the anguish he felt that came hand-in-hand with murder?

* * *

_

"_Alright Big Brother. Are you all ready for the mission?" Bai asked him as she closed her pack. It wasn't even half-full—Bai had never been very good with weapons, and always had relied on her alchemy._

_Hei nodded and glanced hesitantly towards Bai."I have a bad feeling about today."_

"_Hm," Bai replied indifferently. "But you got that new bullet-proof coat the other day. That'll be a big help."_

"_Yeah, they want me to be the one to jump in front of a bullet for the Fuhrer," grumbled Hei, a bit grumpily. He hadn't gotten much sleep the past couple of days; he couldn't get the whole Amber incident out of his mind. Something would go wrong eventually, and not knowing what or when it was making him jumpy. Then to make things worse, a messenger from the military had just notified them that they were to serve as bodyguards to the Fuhrer during his speech to the troops. "I'm not too excited about it. And I have to return it afterwards anyways."_

"…_Huh," Bai said absentmindedly as she fiddled with a strap on her pack. She didn't seem to have been listening to what he was saying._

_Hei watched her antics apprehensively. "What's wrong?"_

"_Oh, nothing," Bai said with a smile as she looked up at him. "Don't worry. I'm just… thinking about things."_

_Hei shot her a fleeting, uneasy look. "Well… I'll be waiting outside. Don't forget we're being picked up in a couple of minutes. It wouldn't be a good idea to make the Fuhrer wait."_

"_I know." _

_Hei spared one last worried glance back at her as he walked out the door, and started down the hall to the barracks exit._

"_Hei." He looked up as he heard the telltale monotone voice of Yin. She was sitting on the couch in the living room._

"_What is it?"_

"_I want…" she began slowly in her droning voice._

"_What do you want, Yin?" Hei asked patiently. She had gotten better at speaking over the years, but she still couldn't express her thoughts in complete sentences very well._

"_With you. I want to go."_

_Hei blinked in surprise. "You…you want to go? You can't, Yin. You're not a bodyguard."_

"_Amber said…. You'd need me. I can help. Watch for snipers," Yin told him haltingly._

"_Amber said…?" Hei repeated, a feeling of dread growing over him as he remembered Bai's strange actions. Was whatever Amber had been talking about going to happen today? Bai wasn't actually planning to die, was she? "What else did she say?"_

"_She said…" Hei leaned forward expectantly. "Not to tell you. Until afterwards." Hei sighed and hit his palm to his forehead. Of course Amber would say something like that._

"_Fine," he growled in frustration. "You can come. But not where everyone can see you. Got it? Just close enough so I can hear you."_

_Yin nodded slowly. "Closeby."_

"_Fine," Hei agreed shortly. He walked down the hall, worry eating away at his stomach. His bad feeling from earlier was intensifying. Something was going to go wrong, he could tell. "Just not too closeby. Come on," he ordered Yin, so that she could get up and follow him. She couldn't have made the decision to get up otherwise._

_She got up lethargically, as if every motion cost her a great deal of effort, and followed after him with slow, halting steps. "Okay."

* * *

_

"_Bai, we're here," Hei told his sister as she stared out the car window. She started at the sound of his voice. Hei's eyebrows pulled together. She was unusually unobservant today. Her Contract normally didn't allow her not to pay attention; being careless was lethal in an environment like Ishbal. "Bai…? Are you sure you're okay? If you're sick, you should go back," he suggested hopefully. Maybe he could stop whatever she was planning._

"_I'm not sick. I'm fine. Sorry, I just got lost in thought," Bai told him as she continued to look out the window._

"_Bai," Hei said quietly. "Something's wrong. Something related to what Amber said, right?"_

_Bai sighed and turned to look him in the eye. "Don't worry. I won't do anything that'll get me killed. I can't. Amber thought I could, but I can't. I'm just thinking about what will happen since I can't. I wish I was strong enough to do it."_

"_Why?" Hei demanded angrily. "Do you _want_ to leave me all alone? You're all I have, Bai!"_

"_I know," Bai said quietly._

"_Um… sorry to interrupt," the car's driver interjected awkwardly. "But… uh… the Fuhrer's waiting, so…"_

"_We understand," Bai told the driver. "Thank you." She opened the door, stepped out into the dirt road, and strode around the car to meet Hei where he was helping Yin out of the car. "Don't worry," she whispered to Hei as he shut the door. "There's nothing to be worried about."_

_Hei nodded inconspicuously as they headed up the stairs that led to where the Fuhrer was already standing, preparing for his speech. He was already surrounded with human body guards, heavily armed with guns. Hei felt his heart skip a beat in panic as an epiphany came to him. Amber had mentioned Bai killing someone. Someone that it would be suicidal to try to assassinate. Could it be…? He glanced at Bai out of the corner of his eye. There was no way. Bai's Contract wouldn't allow her to do something that stupid. There was no logic in it. They had seen the Fuhrer, a homunculus known as Wrath, kill people before. He was an opponent that neither of them were a match for._

"The Fuhrer's a homunculus?" Ed interjected with a yell.

Hei broke off his story and looked up at Ed with a slightly annoyed expression. "Yes. He is."

"We thought he was just leading the philosopher's stone project!" Al said in shock. "I can't believe it… the head of the military, of the whole country… is a homunculus!"

"You've met the homunculi before?" Hei asked them, his curiosity peaked despite his irritation with the interruption. "Which ones?"

"I met two a while back—one was some lady with dark hair, and the other one was a… guy I think. He was wearing some pretty weird clothes. And he called me…_short,_" Ed added on furiously, as if that was the quality that doomed the homunculus to eternal hatred. "Then we met Greed later on in Dublith. The Fuhrer killed him though, according to Al."

"How?" Hei asked, leaning forward slightly, eyes intent on the brothers. "As far as I know, you have to just keep on killing them until their Philosopher's Stone runs out."

"Umm…" Al said, forgetting that the rubber balls were covering his hands as he accidentally smashed them into his facial helmet when he tried to scratch his head. "Oops," he said as he carefully lowered his hands to his sides. "Well, he cut him up, well…_a lot…_with his swords. At the end though, he ended up stabbing all the little red circles on Greed's clothes, and he finally stayed still."

"Red…circles…" Hei muttered to himself pensively.

"Oh, but… can you continue?" Al requested in abashment. "What happened?"

"_Yin, stay here," Hei whispered to Yin as they reached the top of the stairs. "There's no place to hide up here, but try not to bring too much attention to yourself." She didn't react. He sighed. "Nod if you understand me." Her head bobbed slightly in response. Hei turned and jogged after Bai just in time to hear what she was saying._

"_Fuhrer President King Bradley," Bai said formally as Hei approached the Fuhrer. "We're here as your bodyguards." She held out her hand to shake his. He ignored it._

"_Thank you, Hei, Bai," the Fuhrer said politely as he turned back to his podium and shuffled some of the papers he would read off of absentmindedly. "It's a pleasure to have such talented members of the military as my bodyguards. I've heard a lot of good things about you."_

"_Thank you, Fuhrer President King Bradley," Hei replied, still trying to quash his unease. Had it been his imagination, or did Bai seem a bit disappointed when the Fuhrer hadn't shaken her hand? Had she wanted to electrocute him? "The pleasure is ours." He and Bai positioned themselves on either side of the Fuhrer, ahead of him by about a foot._

_The Fuhrer looked out into the small crowd gathered below where they stood. When his gaze lingered on an officer with short dark hair and the man beside him with glasses, the dark-haired man glared at him defiantly, and started to walk away from the crowd. "Mustang…" Hei heard the Fuhrer mutter. "What are you planning?" He continued to stare after them until they extricated themselves from the crowd and left. Hei glanced at the Fuhrer. Was this Mustang person that important?_

_Suddenly the Fuhrer's head turned in Bai's direction. Hei's head whipped around towards where she was as well. She was reaching out towards the Fuhrer, giving off the slight, eerie blue glow that preceded her use of electrical alchemy. _Bai! No!_ He started sprinting towards her._

_The Fuhrer reacted faster than Hei would have thought humanly possible. Grabbing one of his other body guards, he threw the man in front of him, towards Bai. Bai stumbled, and the man screamed loudly as he was electrocuted in the Fuhrer's stead. Bai recovered her balance and threw the man off of her, only to find that she had been stabbed through the stomach with one of the Fuhrer's swords._

"_BAI!" Hei yelled as he drew his knife and blocked the next stab the Fuhrer had aimed at her. The sword remained in Bai's stomach. __Another stab came his way… no, it was a feint! The stab turned into a slice. He quickly twisted the knife around to parry the attack.__ He was vaguely aware of the sound of the Bai's blood dripping onto the ground, and the clamor of the surprised crowd below them, but he blocked it out in order to focus on staying alive._

"_Hei," Yin's voice cut through his concentration. "Watch out."_

_He automatically looked up towards her voice to see a slicing motion he hadn't noticed, and blocked it right before the sword buried itself in his head. The Fuhrer had drawn another sword Hei noted quickly as he pushed the sword back. He had two others sheathed besides that._

_He didn't have time to think of anything else as the Fuhrer sliced at him again with both of his swords. He blocked one, but the other managed to put a deep scratch on his cheek. Hei retaliated with an attack of his own while the Fuhrer's arm was still outstretched. The Fuhrer pulled his arm back before Hei could blink, but Hei ducked into the Fuhrer's blind spot, on the side he was wearing the eye patch, and managed to wound the Fuhrer with a stab to the stomach. _

_The Fuhrer stumbled back, and Hei lost sight of him for a moment as one of the other remaining bodyguards for the Fuhrer drew a gun on him, and fired. Hei noted in surprise that the bullet didn't injure him. But… a voice in the back of his reminded him that he had been given that bullet-proof coat. Before the man could pull the trigger again, he had a knife firmly embedded in his head._

_Hei took a moment to pause and evaluate the situation. The other body guards were converging on them. He had to get out of here. But how? Hei stopped his train of thought as the Fuhrer attacked again in a fury, blood dripping from his wound, his swords a blur of speed. The Fuhrer must've dodged at the last second, making Hei miss the vital spot he had been aiming for… Hei grabbed Bai hastily with one hand and jumped out of the way as a sword's slice came towards her. Bai stifled a scream as Hei roughly picked her up, and Hei noted the sound of splattering blood in the back of his mind as he spun around to face the Fuhrer again. He grunted in pain as a sword sliced a shallow wound through his leg; he staggered, and barely managed to block the next attack. He had to get out of here. And fast._

_He couldn't draw another knife, not while he was holding Bai. He would have to act quickly; he was already barely managing to block the Fuhrer's attacks with one knife alone. __He sheathed the only knife he was currently using and fumbled on his belt for the cable wire he had learned to use as a long range weapon, as well as a mode of escape__. He threw the wire towards the stairs balcony, which the wire wrapped around and grounded itself with a snap. He gripped Bai tightly with his free hand, and lowered his guard for a moment to retract the wire. He was rewarded with a long, shallow cut across his back, through the supposedly bullet-proof coat, as the wire retracted. His teeth felt melded together, he was gritting them together so hard from the pain, but he managed to grab Yin as he and Bai flew towards the stairs, and then over the railing._

I can't get the wire to slow our fall! _Hei thought frantically as they fell towards the ground. He strained to reach the button that would retract the wire, but couldn't reach it. _Not while I'm holding them!

_Bai unexpectedly reached out towards his belt, and pressed the button. They slowed down with a jerk right before they hit the ground, and it seemed to be enough, Hei thought, as he set Yin down and gingerly stood, careful not to put any pressure on his injured leg. It was undoubtedly a bad injury, but at least it didn't seem to be anything immediately life-threatening. He could stand without feeling like he was going to pass out, in any case._

"_Hei. They're coming," Yin warned him._

"_Climb onto my back, Yin. Bai, hold on the best you can. I'm going to need at least one arm." She nodded limply, and he tried not to focus on how pale she was, or how her wound, with the sword still in it, was leaking a steady stream of blood. How were they going to escape? It wouldn't be hard to follow a trail of blood…_

"_Big Brother," she whispered. "Once you get to an isolated place, can we take a break? We both need to treat our wounds… before we pass out."_

"_Sure," Hei agreed in a forcefully steady voice. He tried hard not to concentrate on how quiet her voice had become, and failed. "That won't be a problem."_

"_Good," Bai said faintly. "Try to wake me up when we get there. I…need to pay my payment."_

"_Okay," Hei told her. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he threw the wire towards the rooftop of a nearby building and retracted it. He could hear gunshots and shouts following them. "Just make sure you wake up."_


	21. Ishbal: Part 6

A/N: Sorry this was late… the past couple chapters have been 2-3 times the size of my normal chapters, so it takes longer to edit them. And this one _really_ needed editing.

Anyways…This is the last Ishbal flashback chapter! I think it'll be good to get back to the main story, but unfortunately, I'm going to have to start updating every two weeks instead of one. Stupid school. :(

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

_Hei panted in complete exhaustion as he sat crouched on top of one of the flat roofs that were so prevalent in Ishbal. He couldn't do it anymore. He didn't have the strength to run away. And Bai… wouldn't last much longer. It wouldn't be surprising if she had already died. They hadn't paused to rest yet, so… _

_Hei took a shaky breath in a useless attempt to calm himself in the face of his dilemma. Her injuries needed to be tended to, or she would die. Then again, if they stopped to treat her wounds, they would all die._

"_Over there!" he could hear a voice shout. He looked tiredly towards the source and swayed at the slight motion. His injuries needed attention as well. He had lost too much blood; everything was a whirl. "I think I see them!"_

_He couldn't do anything, Hei concluded exhaustedly as the shouting accelerated towards them. No matter what they did, they were going to die._

"_Psst!" Hei heard behind him. He turned to see the head of a brunette woman looking around nervously. It seemed there was a wooden ladder leading up to the flat roof. A ladder meant a place to hide, to escape, Hei's mind told him throughout the fog of his fatigue. "Come here! I'll help hide you!"_

_Hei nodded tiredly and heaved himself onto his feet. His injured leg was trembling uncontrollably as he put weight on it, and his back injury burned from the salty sweat he was soaked in. He bent over anyways to pick up Bai again, and he later would wonder how he managed to do that when he could barely walk seconds prior. He turned his head towards Yin. _

"_Yin, come on." She nodded lethargically and followed his slow, stumbling steps towards the ladder._

_The woman reached out to hold Bai as Hei approached her. She carefully held Bai, and expertly made her way down the ladder without needing her hands to descend. Hei told Yin to follow after them, and he lowered himself down the ladder after her. As soon as he reached the floor below them, everything in his vision flickered to black for a split second, and he collapsed onto the ground in a heap. He couldn't move._

"_Get up! Please, get up!" the woman begged him. "They'll be here any second now!" His eyes slowly swiveled towards the women in exhaustion. Her voice and face were fading out, and she sounded to him as if she was speaking to him through a layer of water—her voice was distorted and almost unintelligible. He couldn't move; it felt as if the entire world had dropped on him. He felt so heavy. "Oh no…" the woman murmured. Hei's eyes closed. Everything felt heavy…including his eyelids. "I'm going to go put this girl in a hidden room," the woman told Yin. "Can you help me move him afterwards?"_

_Hei didn't see or hear Yin's reaction, but that probably was because there wasn't one. Yin couldn't react. She probably wouldn't be able to help move him either. But as he drifted off into unconsciousness, he thought he felt Yin's slim fingers intertwine with his. Maybe it was just a slight pressure he was imagining from not having enough oxygen in his brain. But whether it was real or not, it was comforting to feel someone holding his hand as he slipped into unconsciousness, completely vulnerable to __whatever the woman had planned for them__. He passed out, feeling a little less weighed down than he had before.

* * *

_

_As Hei woke up, he noticed it was quiet. Calm. He took slow, relaxed breath as he tried to remember where he was. The bed didn't feel familiar. It was much too comfortable. Had they gone back to Central? But no, then the beds wouldn't be like this… He tried to sit up, but winced as it pulled at the __half-healed__ injury on his back, and he slowly lowered himself back to the bed. Why was he injured…?_

_His eyes flew wide as he remembered what had happened. Bai had tried to kill Bradley. She had been stabbed, dying… He looked around wildly. She wasn't anywhere in this room. Where? Where was she?_

_He tried to take a steadying breath. He shouldn't panic. She might still be alive. She had to be. "Bai," he called out in a loud voice. "Bai where—"_

_He was cut off by someone barreling into the room and forcefully covering his mouth. "Quiet!" the intruder hissed__, clearly terrified__. "Are you trying to get me caught?"_

"_What?" Hei managed to reply around her hand._

"_Shhh!" the intruder told him. He obeyed, and took the opportunity to see who this person was. It was the young brunette woman from earlier. She was of Ishbalan descent, he could tell by her red eyes, but… she seemed to be pale-skinned and had brown hair. Was she of mixed race? That had to be it. But something was still off… He noticed something strange about the skin on the hand covering his mouth as he focused on it. It was a strange, unnaturally pale color. It almost seemed to glow in the half-light of the room._

"_Alright," the woman said slowly, still __obviously tense__. She took her hand away from Hei's mouth. He looked up to see that her face was just as pale. And her hair…his eyes narrowed. "I don't think anyone's coming. But I swear," she said, turning towards Hei with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. "Is it only Ishbalans who have any sense anymore?"_

"_You're an Ishbalan," Hei noted. "But you've bleached your skin white, and you're wearing a wig."_

_The woman stared at him in surprise for a moment before her expression turned into a strange mixture of sadness, indignation, and shame. Her hands on her hips fell to her side. "Yes. I had a friend in Central, and I managed to get a skin bleacher smuggled to my place during a lull in the fighting."_

_Hei nodded, but didn't ask any more about it. The woman didn't seem satisfied with the look on his face, however._

"_Don't…don't give me that look. I'm proud to be Ishbalan," the woman told him in a low, constricted voice. "I'm proud of what I used to look like. But I had to shed that pride if I wanted to survive, and if I wanted my family to survive. I wanted my children to be seen as half-Ishbalan, you see," she said shakily. Her eyes took a far-off look as they stared past Hei, as if she was gazing into the past. "I thought it would make them safe. So after the first year or so of conflict, I started to bleach my skin, and after a little over a half-year, it was done. It even helped for a while. I informed the military that a pure-blooded Amestrian was living at this house, that they shouldn't attack it." She paused. "__But then my sunglasses fell off once, and they saw my eyes…__" Her voice petered out, but Hei understood what had happened._

"_So why did you save me?"_

"_This," the woman said pinching her skin with a slightly repulsed look on her face. "Is permanent. So, at least this way, as long as I move houses periodically and wear sunglasses whenever the military comes knocking, I can escape suspicion. I can try to help smuggle some Ishbalans away from the government, and anyone else who's opposing Bradley for that matter. One of you tried to kill the Fuhrer, right? I heard them shouting about it." Her eyes burned as she looked him in the eyes. "Of course I would help you."_

_So she didn't know who he was, what he'd done. "You shouldn't have done it."_

"_It doesn't matter what you think. As soon as I saw those __military goons__ chasing after you, I decided I would."_

_Hei shook his head slowly. She still didn't understand. "It doesn't feel right, being saved by the people we've killed."_

_The woman's eyes widened briefly, then squeezed shut. She took several slow, deep breaths, as if trying to calm herself. "So… you're one of them, are you?" She said through her teeth. Her hands shook as she clenched them into fists. "You helped with the extermination. The military… I hate them. Nothing would be like this if not for them. No one would be dead."_

"_What will you do with us, then?" Hei asked her calmly. It was unreasonable to even think that she would continue to house them. He could only hope she wouldn't try to kill them._

_She turned her face away, her hands clenching and unclenching as if imagining strangling him right then and there. She shook her head sharply, and her hands fell limply to her sides. "I won't kill you. I won't become like you," she said as if she needed to convince her herself. She glared at him, a savage look contorting her features, making her seem almost animalistic. "I've seen countless Ishbalans become monsters, just like the military, over revenge. I've seen it, and swore I would never be like that, but…" she backed away and collapsed against the wall behind her. "It's a lot easier to say it than when you actually have the chance, right there…" she muttered to herself. The woman seemed to have completely forgotten that Hei was in the room. She stared at the ground for a couple long, unending minutes, fists still shaking as she debated with herself what to do with Hei._

_Hei finally shifted slightly, and the rustling of the sheets seemed to bring the woman back into reality. She glared at him once more._

"_I'm sorry," Hei told her quietly. "For what I've done."_

"_No, you're not," the woman told him through clenched teeth. A crazed look was starting to show in her eyes. "If you were, you wouldn't have killed anyone in the first place."_

"_I don't like killing," Hei muttered._

"_Of course you don't, or I would have to doubt your sanity," the woman told him acidly. "Killing is an abomination, an act against Ishbala, one of the worst sins one can commit. No sane person can enjoy it. But you chose to do it anyways. That's why you're a monster." The woman blinked and transferred her gaze to hands. "Murder is an act against Ishbala. It makes you a monster," she repeated softly to herself. _

"_I'm sorry," Hei told her composedly. It almost sounded insincere. Maybe he _had _been hanging around Contractors for too long._

"_Don't waste your apologies on me," the woman told him in a much more collected voice than before. She stood up, and her hands only shook slightly now. "Tell it to the hundreds of thousands of Ishbalans who have been slaughtered. That is, if you even make it to where they are. I have no doubt that all my kindred have joined Ishbala in heaven."_

"_Heaven?" __Hei asked the woman. Images of mounds of corpses, of Bai smiling serenely as she killed, flashed through his head. A place without killing or Contracts…someplace like that couldn't exist. If people's souls indeed inhabited it, such a pure place would be destroyed, he wholeheartedly believed. Because people were intrinsically evil.__ "There's no such place."_

"_Don't try to dismiss my religion. Not after you've killed my people. We Ishbalans…after this, what do we have to tie us together anymore? How we look is obviously a factor…" She glanced at her bleached skin before continuing. "But there's something else that ties us together. Our culture, our religion. It's what makes us who we are. If we lose that, we will truly become extinct."_

_Hei blinked at her rebuke._

_The woman saw his surprise, and looked studiously away from him before abruptly changing the subject. "That other young woman who was with you… she was related to you, wasn't she?" Her voice was tightly controlled now, letting no emotion show except for the strain that it took to keep it so stoic._

_Hei nodded slowly as he let his head sink back onto the pillow. "She's my sister."_

"_Was there… anything wrong with her beforehand? I couldn't get any expression out of her, even when I was pulling out that sword. And the young silver-haired girl hasn't even moved a muscle yet."_

"_They've both been like that ever since the military ran experiments on them. Bai is my sister. Yin is the silver-haired girl."_

_The woman waved away the topic of human experimentation as if it was something to be suspected of the military. Which it was. "Was it your sister who tried to kill the Fuhrer?"_

"_Yes. How is she?" Hei asked her, dread rising in his stomach as he remembered the dire situation she had been in. His carefully composed mask that he wore almost constantly nowadays cracked a bit under his anxiety. "When I last saw her…"_

_The Ishbalan woman's forced composure faltered for a second. "She isn't doing so well. She lost a lot of blood, and well… __it's a gut wound.__ There was a lot of internal damage."_

_The sinking feeling in Hei's stomach turned into a free-fall. Bai… was she…? "Is she dying?" he heard himself saying, but was unable to remember making the decision to ask._

_The woman sighed and looked at him straight in the eyes __for the first time after learning that he had played a part in the Ishbalan massacre.__ "Yes," she said bluntly. "It won't be too much longer now. It's lucky you're awake, she's been asking for you." _

_Lucky was not a word Hei would have chosen to describe this situation, but he nodded dumbly, unable to wrap his brain around the idea that Bai was dying. He didn't speak for several moments, or was it minutes…? He couldn't tell, but the Ishbalan woman waited patiently for his response. Her hateful, hardened eyes had softened slightly as she took in his expression._

"_Can I see her?" he finally asked. There was no way. The woman was lying, Bai couldn't be dying, not after all these years of doing everything possible to protect her._

"_If you can get up," the woman told him. "And if you can fall down without making a sound."_

_Hei nodded to himself and slowly, painfully sat up. He carefully moved his legs over to the side of the bed, and tentatively placed his weight on them. His injured leg collapsed almost immediately, and he had to catch himself using the bed. His back wound screamed in pain as part of it split open anew, staining the back of his shirt with blood. He slowly stood up again, placing all his weight on his non-injured foot. His injured leg shook violently beneath him._

_The woman bit her lip before sighing. "I'll help you." She walked around to Hei, and supported the side his injured leg was on. Hei could sense the revulsion the woman felt at touching him emanating from her. Her lip was curled slightly in disgust, and her eyes had resumed their hardened look, but she took a step forward, and Hei followed._

_They made their way down the hall. Hei concentrated on his steps for a minute or two during their progress before asking, "What's your name?"_

"_Why?" the Ishbalan replied coolly._

_Hei continued to watch his feet. "I don't know. Names just seem important. Like if people remember your name then you won't be forgotten."_

"_Ishbalans believe that names are given to us by God. They are very important to us. So we don't tell them to just anyone." 'And especially not someone like you', Hei could hear her unspoken thoughts clearly in the silence that followed her assertion._

"_Normally I would say 'my name is Hei'," Hei told her. He stumbled and his back would split open farther, but he continued to talk anyways. "But it's not my real name. Bai and Yin aren't their real names either; the government took all our names away. Yin's real name is Kirsi. And Bai's… Bai was her nickname even before the government took us in. The name stuck with her, even in the lab. But her real name is Xing. She's named after both our parents' native country, and after the stars."_

"_The stars…" repeated the woman softly. Hei looked at her in surprise, but she seemed to be talking to herself. "That's a well-chosen name. A point of light that makes the darkness in the night sky bearable, even beautiful." __She stared at the ground vaguely, eyes distant._

_They made their slow progress down the hall in silence until e__ventually, the woman's softened features hardened into an enduring hatred once more. Her hand dug into his shoulder painfully, and he winced. "We're almost there."_

_Hei paled, and quieted at the reminder of his sister's predicament. It couldn't be true. It couldn't._

"_We're here," the woman told him quietly after a minute or so of walking. Hei looked up to see a room that was similar to his. And lying in the bed, was a very pale and frail looking Bai._

"_Bai!" Hei croaked. He stumbled forward awkwardly until he reached her bedside and collapsed into a chair positioned next to the bed._

"_Big Brother," Bai said in a whisper that was completely unlike her usual, more vigorous voice. "I'm glad you're up."_

"_I'll be outside if you need anything," the Ishbalan woman told Hei in a muted voice. He nodded in acknowledgement, but was unable to tear his eyes away from Bai's transformed features. How could she have become so weak so quickly? How long had he been out?_

"_Big Brother," Bai whispered. It was a soft, scratchy sound, and it grated on Hei's ears. How could she be so frail…? "I need to tell you some things. Will you listen?"_

"_Only until you feel too tired to continue," Hei told her in a warning tone, trying to cover up the near panic that had erupted from him upon seeing her condition. "Don't strain yourself."_

"_Okay," Bai agreed. Her voice was just a sigh. "First of all… I'm sorry you got hurt."_

"_...What?" Hei replied, wide-eyed. His growing panic seemed to abate slightly as he paused to consider Bai's confusing statement. It didn't make any sense. He had seen a lot of strange things in Ishbal, but this had to be the weirdest yet. "You're…sorry? That I got hurt? But—the Contract—"_

"_It can't do anything to me now. I'm going to die anyways. No rational action of mine will lengthen my life at this point, so I'm free to feel and act as I want. Finally." Bai closed her eyes and smiled softly._

"_You're not going to die!" Hei told her fiercely the panic flaring up again. "Not after everything!" His voice cracked slightly on the last syllable.  
_

"_You mean after you killed all those people so you could help protect me?" Bai asked as her smile turned sad. "I'm sorry about that. I really am. And I was back then too, even if I couldn't do anything. I did regret it, even if I could only regret it in my dreams, as my payment. I'm sorry. I'm… really sorry I hurt you so much, Big Brother."_

_Hei shook his head slowly from side to side. This didn't bode well at all. Bai apologizing so much could not be a good sign. "Stop—Stop saying it like it's your final words. Okay? Please."_

_Bai sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry." For a moment, Hei thought she had fallen asleep, but then she smiled again, an authentic smile he hadn't seen in her in over a decade. "Do you know, Big Brother… how nice it is to be able to enjoy something? Just being able to talk to you by myself, without the Contract, and to not constantly be analyzing what you were saying, looking for possible betrayals… And I'm allowed to feel happiness, and to show it. This is wonderful." She opened her eyes, and directed her smile to Hei. "I really am sorry."_

"_It's alright. There's nothing to apologize for," Hei told her. Despite everything, he couldn't help but feel a small bubble of elation swelling up in him at her content expression. Unless this was a trick of some sort, Bai was finally happy. After years and years, he finally could see her smile._

"_That was an apology for what will happen later," Bai told him. Hei's small bubble of happiness popped instantly and fizzled out. She couldn't be happy for long. She was dying. "Do you know, Big Brother…what Amber was trying to get me to do?"_

"_To kill King Bradley?" Hei guessed in a more subdued tone than before._

"_No. That was only a means to get the ends."_

"_What does that mean?" Hei asked, his eyebrows lowering into the beginnings of a scowl. He didn't like where this was going._

"_I mean… I had to get mortally wounded for this to work."_

"_You—had to—what?" Hei asked heatedly. Anger boiling up inside him to create a strange swirling mix of fury and terror. "Why? You _were_ trying to kill yourself then?"_

"_Yes and no," Bai sighed. She paused for a moment to catch her breath. "Please don't get angry. Just listen. Then you can get angry. Just let me tell you."_

_Hei nodded slowly in acknowledgement, suppressing the whirlpool of emotions for the moment, and Bai took a shallow, rattling, breath. "Do you know what my ability is, Big Brother?"_

"_To create electricity," Hei answered, a little concerned now for her state of mind. That was obvious, wasn't it?_

"_No," Bai told him softly. "Think about it. What is electricity really? Put in simple terms, it's the flow of electric charge through a medium. At the core of my ability is the ability to control electrons. But what is alchemy? It includes the ability to change one similar material into something else, by changing the composition or the structure."_

"_So…" Hei said as he looked at her. "What are you saying?" _

"_Basically, my ability is to manipulate electrons, and that includes breaking bonds between atoms and molecules, and forming new ones. It's, for all intents and purposes, one of the basic parts of all forms of alchemy."_

_Hei stared at her for a moment, trying to process what she had told him. If that was true, why had she only ever used electricity? "How long have you known this?"_

"_Amber told me, and I found out she was right. I can do alchemy that changes one substance into something else, although I still haven't managed to change the structure of anything on a very large scale. I could never make those big spikes that some of the State Alchemists make out of the ground, for example, but I could change their composition into something else once they were made. And…" she continued in an even quieter voice. "I can open the Gate."_

"_But what does any of this have to do with you killing King Bradley?" Hei asked her to remind her of his original question._

"_I'm getting to that," Bai chastised him in her scratchy, quiet voice. "Amber didn't come over just to tell me about my ability. Listen closely, Big Brother. The military is planning something that will kill everyone in this country." Hei's eyebrows shot up skeptically. "Don't look at me like that. She showed it to me. Amber didn't tell me much, but here's what I know. What we did in Ishbal helped to contribute to their plan. And they will need five 'human sacrifices'—that's the codename for people who have opened the Gate completely—at a certain place and time. It's soon, although I don't really know when."_

"_So you just decided to die before this happens?" Hei asked bitterly__. How had her Contract allowed her to do this…?_

_Bai gave a short, breathy laugh. "Actually, in a way, yes. Amber showed me that there were two possible paths in this case, Big Brother, two possible realities. I could've not tried to kill Bradley, and we would have ended up dying not too long after because of what the military was planning. You would have died even before me—the military would have killed you in a couple of weeks after an incident that made them determine that you were too unpredictable to keep alive anymore. Or I could do what I'm about to do, and live on, in a way, through you. I want to give you, at least, a chance to survive."_

"'_What you're about to do'?" Hei quoted with narrow eyes._

_Bai smiled sadly. It was still so strange to see her smiling. "Yes." She reached out and touched the chair Hei was sitting on. She looked at her now bloodied, crimson hand. "The wound from your back is bleeding onto the chair, Big Brother."_

"_That doesn't matter…!" Hei protested. "It's nothing compared to your injuries!"_

"_Do you know what happens when you perform a human transmutation after mixing the blood of two people, Big Brother?" Bai asked him, completely ignoring his previous statement and withdrawing a sheet of paper that had been hidden under her shirt, onto which a transmutation circle was sketched. Hei could see a splatter of blood staining the center of the circle._

"_No," Hei responded suspiciously. "What is that?"_

"_Amber sketched it for me," Bai told him, her smile growing more and more forlorn. "It's a human transmutation circle. With my blood in the middle." Before Hei could do anything, Bai touched a finger died scarlet with Hei's blood onto the circle. "And when a human transmutation is performed with the blood of two different, but related, people, the spirits of those two people mix."_

"_Wha—" Hei's startled exclamation was cut off as he suddenly found himself in a pure white space. His first, wild impression was that he was completely alone, but then he realized that there were two gigantic doors hanging eerily in the empty space—one in front of him, and one behind him. And Bai, still pale and weak from her injuries, sat in front of the gigantic door in front of him._

"_Sorry, Big Brother," Bai whispered weakly. "This is going to be hard. But you need to survive."_

"_What—Bai! What's going on? Where are we?"_

"_**So you've come,"**__ Hei heard an ethereal voice say in front of him. He blinked, and found that a white figure in the exact same shape as Bai stood facing her. It seemed to emanate darkness, despite the fact that the figure itself was as white as its surroundings. __**"You want to give him the knowledge you learned from the Gate? What will you pay for the toll?"**_

"_I want to…give him my Gate, and all…the knowledge that comes with it," Bai panted as she clutched her sword wound. Hei noticed with alarm that it was blood was seeping out from the bandages. He started forward to help her, but she motioned for him to halt, and he reluctantly complied as his leg injury stopped him from moving farther. __"I'll pay the toll with my life, but connect my Gate, and all the alchemy I learned from it, to him with my spirit. The spirit not only connects the soul to the body, but the soul to the Gate. I'm sure you can rewire my spirit, with my Gate along with it, to Hei, even after I'm dead."_

"_Bai…" Hei started forward again, dragging his injured leg behind him. "What are you saying? Are you trying to get yourself killed again? Stop it!"_

"_**Hmm…"**__ the white figure murmured. __**"And you want to pay for his Contract as well?"**_

"_Yes," Bai answered. "Make it so he's still able to act irrationally."_

"_Bai!" Hei yelled. "Stop!"_

"_**Very well then,"**__ the white figure grinned manically. __**"A life for his new life as a Contractor. We have a deal."**_

"_Stop!_

_Bai slumped forward, and he had a chance to see her empty, half-lidded eyes before the Gate behind her opened, and black hands started to drag her inside. "Bai!" Hei bellowed in desperation, reaching out towards her, fingers stretching to gain any purchase at all. But his hand closed on empty air, barely missing her dangling hand. She was gone. "Bai!" Hei yelled. __He pounded at the door that had taken her in, trying to get it to open up once more, so he could save her, because she couldn't be dead, she couldn't__—_ "_Bai!" Suddenly, the Gate disappeared under his fists, and reappeared behind him, along with the Gate that had already been there before._

_He fell to the seemingly nonexistent ground, writhing in pain from both his injuries and from the immense amount of information that was suddenly crammed into his head upon the reappearance of Bai's Gate next to his. "Agh! Stop! It's too much!" Images of atomic structure, electricity, how to manipulate it, and many more things he could not comprehend at the moment flashed through his mind. "I don't want this! Just give her back!"_

"_**It's too late." **__Hei glanced up in panic to see the white figure from before, now in a form similar to his own. The white figure's face split into a smile. __**"She already made the deal. Her body and soul are dead."**_

"_No," Hei choked out as he managed to shakily rise to his feet. His injured leg trembled convulsively under him, but he ignored it, looking at the white figure and shaking his head in denial. "You're wrong, you're wrong! You're lying!"_

"_**No. I am the Truth. I do not lie," **__contended the grinning white figure. __**"**__**Unlike your sister, although it was inadvertently on her part. She accidentally left you to pay some of the toll for the Gate transfer. She said she would give her life in payment, but her spirit remains, tying her Gate to you, even if her soul and body are gone. So she isn't fully dead. More needs to be paid. A life for a life was the deal." **__The figure reached out towards him. __**"So...I wonder what I should take from you?"**_

_Hei stumbled away from the figure, still shaking his head. "Give her back."_

"_**I could take back my part of the trade concerning your irrationality... Yes, you're irrationality will certainly help pay for some of it…" **__the figure in white mused, and suddenly Hei stopped shaking his head. What was the point? His sister was obviously dead. People died all the time. No reason to get so upset about it. __**"But what about the rest…"**_

_Hei stood there staring blankly at the figure. Bai was gone, dead. He had had such a massive mix of conflicting emotions battling around inside him just moments before, but now… nothing. He knew he should feel angry, depressed, anything. But he couldn't—something inside him seemed to be blocking all his feelings. He couldn't feel anything at all._

"_**Your hand should do," **__the white figure said, reaching out towards Hei. __**"The hand with which you reached out towards your sister."**_

_Hei fell backwards in an effort to distance himself from the grinning white creature that called itself the Truth. He grunted in pain as he landed on his injury, his back still dripping with blood. Whatever internal force had blocked his emotions earlier was now propelling him on its own away from the threat. After all, the new internal force in his mind reasoned, if he lost his hand, he might as well be dead. There was no way he could fight without it._

_Suddenly, one of the Gates behind him cracked open. He whipped around, expecting an enemy, or to be dragged in as Bai had been but… Even the strange internal force that had stopped him from feeling couldn't stop him from staring dumbly at what was coming out of the Gate. A blue hand, strangely see-through, almost like a watery ghost. And it was groping blindly into the white space, obviously looking for something._

"_What…?" Hei found himself muttering. He had never seen anything like it before._

"_Hei," Yin's voice echoed out of the Gate. He looked at the outstretched blue hand, and his brain made the connection. This was Yin's observation specter. He could see it, so that had to mean... he… had to be a Contractor now. Only those who had seen the Gate could see specters. "Hei. Don't leave me here alone." The Gate burst open and the see-through blue hand reached toward him. It grabbed him and dragged him backwards into the open Gate._

"_**Don't think that you're escaping," **__the white figure told him as he flew back, propelled by Yin's hand. __**"You can't hide from me. I am what is known as the Truth, God, the World, the Universe, All, or One. And I'm You," **__the white figure said as it pointed an accusatory finger at him. __**"You can't escape the Truth."**_

_Nevertheless, the Gate shut in front of him as he flew backwards, and Hei suddenly found that he had returned to the room he had vacated minutes earlier. A cursory glance told them that only he and Yin were in the room. Bai was gone._

_Shouldn't he feel sad?_

"_Hei," Yin's voice grabbed his attention. "Bai is dead."_

_He should've flinched at the reminder, shook his head in denial…anything. But he only answered her back with a calm assent. "Yes," he said. "She killed herself so I could become a Contractor."_

_Yin looked at him silently. "Amber said… to tell you after this happened. She said… to not forget_ _about your dreams from… back when you first came here."_

"_Contractors can't dream," Hei informed her. With only one, noticeable exception. But he wasn't Bai, and in any case, she was dead. "Why should I care about some illogical, wishful thinking from when I was younger?"_

"_Amber said… that the only choice you can make… that'll keep both of us alive… would be to run from the military. From now on." Yin said even more haltingly than usual, in what seemed to be an effort to try to convey her message as accurately as possible._

"_Keep us both alive?" Hei asked her with an eyebrow raised calculatingly. "Why should I leave you alive? What can you do for me?" Something inside him stirred at that. The part whose emotions the Contract was blocking, the original him. It seemed that even though emotions couldn't seep through the barrier in his mind the Contract provided, thoughts could. _Of course I shouldn't kill Yin. She's innocent. She's been through more than enough already._ The thought was immediately quashed by his Contract. There was no rational reasoning behind it._

_Yin continued to stare at him blindly. She reached out tentatively in his direction, her hand patting at the air gently as it searched for his. "I want to stay with you. I think… I can regain my emotions. If I'm with you."_

"_And I'm asking you," Hei told her coldly. "How that has anything to do with me. At this point, you're just a hindrance who knows too much. Why should I let you live, much less come with me?"_

"_Don't know," Yin told him. He thought he could hear the faintest hint of a defeated tone in her voice. "Just a Doll. I don't know."_

"_Well then…" Hei said as he drew his knife and limped toward her. "I guess that makes my decision for me." _Yin's the only one left. Don't kill her. _Hei's former personality told the Contract, unable to feel any of the urgency he knew should go with the statement. The Contract ignored him; his legs continued to move forward against his own will, and his knife continued to point at Yin without even a quiver of hesitation. Was this what Bai had been through? This whole time, had she been protesting futilely, telling her Contract to stop? Or had she eventually just given up, knowing it was useless? But no… she had reasoned her way out of some things. She had managed to manipulate her Contract by thinking of logical alternatives. Hei racked his brain, but he was much too close now, and he had to stop the Contract however possible. _Stop! _He commanded in a firmer voice. Firmness was allowed. _Stop. If you don't, it'll be the death of me._ His feet stopped midstep._

How? _his Contract demanded him._

_Hei drew a blank for a moment, and searched his memories, trying to think up a decent reason. _Do you remember…

I remember whatever you remember,_ his Contract reminded him impatiently._ I'm you.

'_**I am what is known as the Truth, God, the World, the Universe, All, or One. And I'm You.'**_

The Gate, _Hei whispered to himself. Of course! This was the way out. _Do you remember? The Gate said that it would find me and take my hand away eventually.

Yes,_ the Contract answered cautiously back. _What of it?

Well, Yin seemed to have the ability to pull me away from the Gate. If we keep her alive, and with me, maybe I'll be safe from the Gate._ Hei waited for the Contract's verdict, unable to feel worry or anticipation. But he knew without doubt that he should save Yin._

Alright. She can live.

"_I'll let you live," the Contract told Yin through Hei. "And you can come with me." He sheathed his knife once more._

_Yin barely reacted to the news. Her hand still remained outstretched towards him from before. Hei took her hand (it was logical after all, to try to get back on her good side now that they would be together from now on), and he limped slowly out to the hall._

"_Let's go tell that Ishbalan woman that Bai's dead, and ask if we can stay a bit longer. Once I'm healed though…" Hei, or rather, the Contract, murmured to himself. "We're going to go kill every military officer that might be even remotely related to this project to massacre the whole country."_

_Hei found that he didn't have any problem with his Contract's decision. The emotional barrier put in place by the Contract purposefully opened enough so that anger, and only anger, flowed through him, making him more amenable with the Contract's decision. He wouldn't resist this particular decision on the Contract's part. Anything that meant lashing back at the people who had made him, Bai, Yin, and so many others like this, that had made them so that they could even kill the people they cared about most without flinching… He was fine with anything that might make the military suffer at least a portion of what they had endured. He could not endure his hatred like that Ishbalan woman. __Central Command would soon feel the wrath of an unknown murderer, known on the streets by the name 'the Black Reaper'._


	22. Irrationalities Will All Disappear

My apologies to all secretaries for this stereotypical, grumpy depiction. I have nothing against secretaries. :P

A/N: I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

The Elric brothers stared at Hei in a dumbfounded silence as he finally fell quiet. Hei stared at the floor, and then, catching sight of the bread he hadn't finished earlier, took a bite of it, and studiously ignored the brothers.

Ed and Al dazedly watched him eat for a minute before Ed finally spoke up. "…Whoah," Ed murmured. "I wish I could say I didn't believe any of that, but…"

"I believe it," Al finished quietly. "A lot of your story lines up with some of our previous experiences. I doubt you could just make up the Truth."

Hei didn't look at them but remained fixated on stuffing his bread into his mouth. Ed and Al stared at him until Ed looked down and kicked at the stone floor pensively.

"I'm… really sorry about your sister," he said quietly. "When we performed our human transmutation, I was left without a leg, and Al was gone. I thought I had lost him, and for those few short seconds…" Ed closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh. "I can't imagine if he really had died. That must have been terrible for you."

Hei stopped to stare at the piece of bread in his hand for a moment without making a move on it. Finally, he muttered to the piece of bread, "It's been years. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Don't try to tell us you actually believe that," Al admonished him gently. "You cared about her, and you still do."

Hei quietly put down the chunk of bread. His face tilted up to stare steadily at Al, and Al shrunk back as the torchlight exposed the sunken look in his eyes. "Irrationalities all disappear eventually," Hei said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Everything does."

Ed shook his head roughly, and Hei's dead eyes shifted over to him. "Not always. Death is a part of life that you should—no, have to—accept…" he paused for a moment. "But most people don't experience…what you were forced to. You were made a human weapon in Ishbal, so of course it'd be different for you. But now that you're on your own, you don't have to kill anymore. You could live a normal life. Why don't you—"

"It's not possible to survive in a world like this without killing," Hei said, cutting him off. "They're always looking for me, and I've been attacked countless times after Ishbal. I either kill or I'll get killed."

"But…!" protested Ed. "You can knock someone unconscious—"

"Do you really think holding back is a good strategy when I'm up against the entire government?" Hei asked him levelly.

"You can try!"

"I need to kill off the people who started all of this. Knocking them out won't make them stop their research. You're being naïve."

"But… what about 'irrationalities all disappear eventually'?" Al quoted quietly. "Are you saying it's naïve to care about someone? That's something some people would give their life for."

"Sacrificing your life is completely irrational, even for humans. Survival is a basic human instinct."

"You think so?" Ed asked Hei while looking pointedly at Yin. "Doesn't seem that way to me."

"It's impossible for a Contractor to be suicidal, even for someone as changed as I am," Hei stated blankly, factually. Contractors didn't need a reason or purpose to live. They just existed. "No matter what happened, I would keep on living."

"What about your sister?" Ed pressed on. "She ended up killing herself, didn't she?"

Hei paused for a moment, and Al turned to give Ed a faceless glare. Ed cringed as Al watched him silently with angry, glowing red eyes, but by the time he had returned his glance to Hei once more, Hei had recovered.

"Yes, she did," Hei said composedly, his face completely wiped clean of emotions, a blank slate. "But only because it wasn't a complete suicide. Her spirit survived, and she would have completely died in another way later on. That was a special case."

"Well… anyways, my whole point wasn't that you should be suicidal if your partner died," Ed argued, indicating Yin with a wave of his hand. "I'm just trying to say you're contradicting yourself."

Hei didn't speak for a moment as he slowly lowered his head to stare at the floor. The shadows grew over his face to hide his gaunt eyes. "And how's that?"

"You said irrationalities all disappear eventually. But you seem a bit more protective than necessary over that girl to me."

Quiet pervaded the room for several tense seconds before Hei slowly said. "Hasn't my story taught you anything?"

Ed and Al stared at him for a moment. "To…not be so naïve?" Al ventured tentatively after Hei didn't offer any hints or suggestions.

"Yes. But also that I make terrible mistakes."

"Mistakes?" Ed repeated slowly. He looked to Yin, whose monotonous expression hadn't wavered at Hei's statement. "You mean…"

"I shouldn't even be thinking about protecting Yin at all. It's a mistake, and I know that."

"But you still try to protect her, don't you?" Al spoke up. "So—"

"It's a mistake," Hei repeated bluntly. "And not just because it's irrational. People I get close to end up dying. But I still make the same mistake, even when I know myself that everything irrational disappears, and that sooner or later…" His voice petered out, fading once more into silence.

Yin shifted by his side, the muted sound noticeable in the awkward stillness that followed his statement. He glanced toward her, but as usual she revealed nothing on her face. No other motion to hint at what she was feeling…nothing. But then, her hand suddenly creeped over towards him, only stopping when her fingertips were just brushing his hand so lightly that he almost couldn't feel them.

"Survival may be a basic human instinct, Mr. Hei," Alphonse said quietly as he watched Yin's hesitant motion. "But it's not the only one."

"For Contractors it is," Hei said, and Yin's hand reached out and slowly intertwined her fingers with his. He frowned. There was a hint of desperation in her movements. As if she was trying to assess through his hand if he had really meant what he said about protecting her being a mistake. He resisted the impulse to bite his lip, feeling torn. He had finally presented aloud the problem that had constantly vexed him once he had had the capability to even consider it. What would be best for himself, for Yin? To leave her so she didn't have to live the dangerous life of traveling with a mass murderer, and consequently cause himself to be completely alone once more? Or should he continue to flee with her out of pure selfishness, to ease the loneliness? If he continued to stay with her as he was doing, inevitably, she would die, and it would hurt infinitely more than if he had let her go earlier, when he wouldn't have known her fate for certain.

"But from what you've told us of normal Contractors, you've been acting really strange," Ed's voice suddenly intruded on his internal debate. He blinked, but gave no other sign that his mind had been elsewhere. "Was it because your sister tried to pay off your Contract before the Gate decided to reverse it?"

Yin's hand was getting sweaty.

"No, I acted like a normal Contractor from the very beginning," Hei said as he leaned back against the stone wall. Yin leaned back as well, still clinging to his hand as if it was a lifeline. He finally acknowledged her, squeezing her hand back, not able to make her upset her any longer. Mistake or not, whichever choice he finally ended up making, it didn't change the fact that he didn't want her to be unhappy. Yin deserved to lead as normal a life as possible for a Doll after all she had been through. Still…it would only help them both if he alienated himself as much as possible from her, to prove to the scientists that he was still rational, and that neither of them had changed. He gazed quietly past the bars, at the barely visible eye that was watching them from the shadows. He hadn't noticed it until towards the very end of the story, but Pride had been observing them; he probably was reporting to the scientists and…_him_. Most of what he had said wasn't a concern; they certainly knew more about Ishbal than he did…but the end of his tale, the part about Bai and the Gate…he hoped that that wouldn't provide them with any useful information. He mentally kicked himself at his oversight—of course they would be watching—the Elrics were human sacrifices, and he was a mass murderer. It had just been so easy to pretend that he was just speaking to the Elric brothers when he got into the story. "I only started changing later, and I'm not quite sure why yet. The military isn't either. That's why I'm still alive."

"They want to see why you're changing," Al surmised.

Hei nodded, still thinking of the cold, calculating eyes watching his every move, and silence overtook them once more. Al made a throat-clearing sound awkwardly, hesitantly. "So… do you still want to kill us?"

Hei looked away. Truthfully told, he didn't. It had been little over a day, and he was already getting to be fond of these boys. It almost felt as if they were comrades together on a mission. But that didn't change the reality of the situation. "I have to."

Ed glared at him. "But in our case, I don't really think you do! If they need us at a certain time and place, like you said before, then can't we just escape? You're just trying to get rid of us because you think killing's easier!"

"How do you plan on escaping?" Hei asked him coolly. Ed paused with his mouth half-open. "If that was a possibility, I would consider it. But we're stuck here with no way out, and I'm not going to let the whole country get slaughtered because I was reluctant to kill you."

"But… that…!" Al said in a soft protest.

"If I had left my sister to die, thousands of Ishbalans might still be alive today. I sacrificed them all on the chance that she would survive the war, and even after all that, she didn't. She died. So many people lost their lives over nothing. I may make a lot of mistakes, but that's one I won't make again." He coolly surveyed the two dumbstruck brothers. "What have you two decided?"

Ed shook his head roughly. "No, of course! We'll find another way!" Ed said fiercely. "And a 'no!' for Al, too! Right?" he asked his brother.

Al fidgeted uncomfortably. "I wish we had more time to think it over… I mean, you're basically asking us to commit suicide…"

_Survival is a basic human instinct._

Hei sighed. He supposed he should have forseen this coming. "We don't have time," Hei told them frankly. Since Pride was watching, someone would be coming any minute now. "Decide now, or I'll have to decide for you."

"Hang on!" Ed shouted, jumping up. Hei internally winced at the excessive, attention-attracting noise. "That wasn't part of the deal! You said we'd be able to decide for ourselves before you tried to kill us!"

"You didn't agree to the deal," Hei reminded Ed.

"Al did! Let him decide first." Ed looked trustingly to his brother for support. "He'll say 'no'."

"Ed, I…" Al began uncomfortably. "I…I dunno…"

"You made me promise, remember?" Ed suddenly shouted at Al. Hei suppressed another sigh. Why couldn't he take out his anger in a quieter manner? At this rate, they'd be coming at any minute. "You made me promise that I wouldn't give up on life, no matter what, after Scar attacked us! The same applies for you!"

"That's enough," Hei said, his even voice breaking through the beginning of Al's reply. "I always intended to take your lives. I told you about Ishbal because, as you said yourself at the beginning, we had nothing else to do."

Ed turned and rounded on him. "Don't give me that crap! I'm not stupid. That story you told us was the truth."

"I didn't say it was a lie," Hei told him, somewhat confused although his face and voice remained blank.

"But if it was true, you told us about you. The real you, not that stupid, fake expression on your face right now. You don't want to kill us."

Hei regarded him evenly for a moment. "And like I told you, like it or not, I have to kill." He started getting up slowly, ready to limp over for the attack if need be. His eyebrows pulled together in a rare show of hesitation. He truly didn't want to. In a way, it was sad. Despite wanting to not be able to kill these brothers, he knew he would be capable of it. He took a step forward, and Ed tensed, getting into a fighting stance. Al stood indecisively, trying to decide whether to go up to Hei or to help his brother.

"Stop right there, Hei," a voice suddenly rang out. Everyone in the cell jumped except for Yin.

"Gah! Where the heck did you come from?" Ed yelled while pointing a wild mitten-covered hand at the girl in the bear suit, Parcel, whom was currently in the cell and leaning nonchalantly against the bars.

"The lab," Parcel said uncaringly, twirling a strand of her short hair around in her fingers. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty fast at going from one place to another. But anyways. The experiments are starting now. With everyone _alive_," she added on with a pointed look at Hei who slowly lowered himself back to his former position on the floor, taking hold of Yin's hand once more and attempting to remove himself from the limelight. He was out of time. He might be able to kill one brother before Parcel stopped him, but there was no way he'd be able to manage both of them with his foot as injured as it was. He was too slow, and backup would be coming any minute now. The only strategy left to him at this point was to remain as unsuspicious as possible on the slight chance that they would deem him trustworthy enough to leave him alone with the brothers at a later time. "And you two are coming with me."

He glared back at her. Yin winced slightly as his hand tightened around hers automatically. Parcel noticed Yin's movement, and looked down in surprise to see their intertwined hands. "What's this?" Her head tilted to the side as she examined their hands curiously. "Are you trying to not get separated? That's not a problem, you know. They want you to come together."

Hei didn't answer but continued to watch her cautiously. Parcel contemplated their hands for a little bit, as if lost in thought. "Strange," she muttered. "I guess that Doll really is your weak spot."

_Irrationalities all disappear eventually. _Hei took his hand out of Yin's and stood up, towering over the short girl. He did his best to ignore the pain that shot up his foot from the motion. Why had he gotten an injury like this at such a critical time…? His chances of escaping were significantly lessened because of one fatal error. "Don't try to use Yin against me," he growled at Parcel. "They won't kill her."

Parcel blinked. "Why's that?"

Why indeed? The researchers would certainly not hesitate to kill Yin if they felt it was necessary. So why did what he had just said have the ring of truth in it? Parcel watched him carefully as he silently contemplated the question. His eyes turned resolute when he finally realized the solution. "I won't let them." It was completely irrational, but it was the only answer he could accept.

"Hmm…" Parcel murmured. Her contemplative gaze turned inscrutable. "You're bluffing. You know what they can do; they might not even have to kill her to get you to comply with whatever they want."

He knew. It had been one of the reasons he had been able to stay sane while trapped in that train car with the stinking corpses of Dolls on the way to Ishbal. He was used to it. The scientists had never really taken the effort to hide the results of their other experiments not related to the Gate—human chimeras, the grotesquely mangled bodies of those who didn't survive the passage through the Gate, philosopher's stones… None of it was pleasant, and he would not let it happen to Yin.

"I'll stop them," he told Parcel. He would have to.

She snorted in exasperation and shook your head. "You know, maybe your problem is that you've got a head injury or something. You know you can barely walk with your foot like that. You can't stop them."

"He can," Ed finally interjected defiantly as he glared at Parcel. She raised an eyebrow at him and Hei looked at him in mild surprise as well. He had just been about to kill both the Elric Brothers against their will, and now Ed was suddenly defending him. "You're just a lackey blindly following orders! How can you know about fighting against the odds? And who are you to tell him what he can and can't do?" Hei stared at Ed for a moment, and then had to struggle to force back a small smile. From what he had seen so far, these brothers had to be two of the most naïve people he had seen in a long time. They were even worse than he and his sister had been before Bai had been experimented on.

Parcel shook her head again, seeming to agree with Hei's silent assessment of the brothers' inexperience, but unlike Hei, she allowed a small grin to begin growing on her face. "You're pretty obnoxious. What's your name again?"

"Ed," he answered insolently.

She smirked impishly at him. "I'm kinda glad they're not gonna experiment on you. You're an interesting one."

"Fraternizing with the enemy?" a voice from outside the cell asked her blithely.

Parcel whipped around to see the smiling face of November 11 outside the cell. Her bear ears slipped off of her head as she stared at him in a disproportionate amount of shock over what had appeared to be a joke. November 11 seemed to notice the abnormality of her actions, and the personable smile plastered to his face quickly slid into a frown. "I thought you knew better than that, Parcel. At least be more inconspicuous about it."

"I… I wasn't," Parcel stuttered, wide-eyed.

November 11 sighed and clapped his hand to his forehead. "Ever since you rescued that Doll… Champ, was that his name?...you've been a complete mess. Making irrational decisions all over the place, and hiding it badly. Don't tell me you're changing as well?" Hei's eye twitched in annoyance. So much for not drawing suspicion to the fact that he and Yin were changing…Apparently neither Parcel nor November 11 had noticed that Pride was watching them.

"No!" Parcel protested. "I'm not changing!" Her eyes again darted nervously around the cell to each of its inhabitants.

November 11 exhaled slowly. "Alright. Let's just say that for now, I suppose. No need to stir up more suspicion about us." Hei sighed slightly. Too late for that.

But wait…a realization dawned on him as the meaning of their conversation started to percolate through his brain. Parcel had saved a Doll… and only then she had started changing? "Why did you save that Doll?" he abruptly asked Parcel in a sharp voice. "Wouldn't that be irrational? It would get you into trouble." Pride's watching eye was still clearly visible over Parcel's left shoulder, but since they had already attracted attention to their situation, he might as well ask. Maybe he could shed some more light on why he and Yin were changing in the first place.

Parcel turned to him with a 'humph!', and upon noticing that her bear ears had fallen down, put them back on top of her head. "It was completely rational. Champ is a very strong Doll. They amputated all his limbs, and gave him all sorts of specialized automail. He's pretty much a living, fighting machine. But they decided to discard him because he's so susceptible to heat and cold, and I thought it would be to my benefit if I rescued him. So I took him to the hospital using my ability as they thought he was dying, and I saved him."

"And ever since then, she's been acting irrational?" Hei asked November 11.

"I have not!" protested Parcel. Everyone ignored her and trained their attention on November 11.

He assented with a nod. "That's correct. It was gradual at first, but she started changing more rapidly after that. It was quite strange." Parcel's eyes widened, and she shifted her gaze from November 11 to stare steadily at Hei and Yin.

"So… it has something to do with the Dolls," Hei breathed softly enough that only Yin, who was still plastered to his side, could hear him. She glanced up blindly. He looked at her, and thought he could detect some trace of emotion on her face. Was it… guilt? No, worry? He couldn't tell, but something about the statement bothered her. "Yin?"

She shook her head slowly and looked down, withdrawing from the conversation. Hei's eyebrows pulled together. What wasn't she telling him?

November 11 coughed. "Well! Sorry to break up this pleasant conversation, but we must be going. It wouldn't do to keep them waiting."

"What are they going to do?" Hei asked November 11 impassively. It wasn't like he could trust what November 11 said, but it couldn't hurt to try to be forewarned anyways.

"They're going to try to test your rationality," November 11 told him. "That's really all I know." He looked towards the Elric brothers. "But you can expect a visit from our dear Fuhrer in a short time. I believe he wants to… give you a warning for disobeying orders concerning giving out information about the philosopher's stone project."

"We didn't!" Ed yelled at him. "We didn't tell anyone about Lab Five! We just told that cop about Barry the Chopper!"

"I'm just the messenger," November 11 told him placatingly. "Take you case to the Fuhrer although I doubt he'll listen. Now, if you'll excuse me. I don't particularly enjoy being yelled at, so I'll be going."

"Thank you for the warning," Al told him softly.

November 11 nodded at him cordially, entered the cell with a quick twist of the key in his hand, and he, Parcel, Hei, and Yin, disappeared soon after. The jet black circle that had transported them away still seemed to absorb all the light in the room, even after it was gone.

* * *

"'No'?" Colonel Mustang repeated incredulously as he stood in front of the secretary that he was trying to get leave from. "Why not? I have two gravely injured subordinates! Do you not understand? They're in critical condition! I—"

"Colonel Mustang," cut in the secretary in her nasally voice. She glared at him balefully. "Do I really have to explain this to you?"

"That would be helpful," Mustang told her through gritted teeth.

"Alright then." The secretary leaned forward, and Mustang couldn't help leaning back. The smell of her perfume combined with that of the dried flowers sitting on the outside counter was nauseating. He held his breath and but kept his eyes focused angrily on her. "So you can understand, since you haven't given me a chance to speak through your whole half-hour tirade—"

"It wasn't a half-hour," Mustang couldn't help butting in. She glowered at him.

"The. Armored. Murderer."

Mustang stared at her and she smirked in satisfaction at finally getting a word in edge-wise. "Do you understand? We still haven't caught that maniac. No one is allowed to take leave until we do."

"But practically every officer stationed here's on patrol!" Mustang protested. "Why can't I—"

"It's not my decision, Colonel Mustang," the secretary told him, and added on, quite unnecessarily in Mustang's opinion, "Just, for once in your life, do as you're told."

"No, I've done enough of that already, thank you," Mustang told her in a tight voice. The whole problem with Ishbal had been that he had been _too_ obedient.

The secretary didn't seem to agree as she snorted in disdain. "Maybe if you had learned to follow orders, Colonel Mustang, you would be able to give them better as well."

"What do you mean?" Mustang asked cautiously, a little thrown off guard by the sneaky undertone that had wormed its way into the woman's voice.

"Aren't your subordinates in that condition because of your orders?"

He gaped at her in shock for a moment before he found his voice again. "That was a classified report! You shouldn't have—"

"I didn't read the report. It was obvious. You rambled on, like I said, for quite a long time just to get leave. It seemed like something more was going on besides that fact that you were upset. You feel guilty, and that's why you want to visit them so badly," the secretary finished with a smug grin, impressed with her analysis.

"They're my subordinates," Mustang told her stiffly, growing more and more furious by the second. "Of course I want time off to visit them. They're on the brink of death!"

"Ohoho?" the woman asked, her face breaking into a delighted grin. "Why so defensive? Is there another reason?"

"I don't know what—"

"Maybe the rumors I've heard are true, that you and Lieutenant Hawkeye are—"

"From what I've seen of you in the past couple of minutes, ma'am, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the one who started a rumor like that," Mustang interrupted her icily. "I didn't come here to discuss my personal life. I'll be going now."

"I might be able to get you an exemption if you say what's going on between you two," the secretary yelled after him as he walked away in desperation to get some gossip-worthy material. Mustang didn't spare her a glance at that, but plunged his hand into his pocket, pulled on his ignition gloves with a sharp tug, and set the vase of dried flowers by the window aflame without looking back.

He heard her screech in shock as he strode down the hall and allowed himself a small grin. At least the last part of the encounter had made that fiasco somewhat worth the precious time it had taken.

_But what am I going to do about the Lieutenant and Havoc?_ Leaving them alone in the hospital was not an option. Maybe he just had to solve this murder case as soon as possible. He took a deep breath of fresh, perfume-free air as he rounded the corner. He would have to go ask Fuery. Maybe he had heard something while he was tapping the military lines.

He turned another corner, and stuck his head into his office, where the remnants of his team were working feverishly to do enough paperwork to cover for Havoc and Lieutenant Hawkeye. "Hey!" he shouted into the room. "Has anyone seen Fuery?"

"He's at lunch," Breda said absentmindedly. Mustang entered the room to see Breda scanning what Mustang could tell, even across the room, was a particularly tricky paragraph in the pile of paperwork he was completing. Breda scratched his head in frustration. "So, what happened with trying to get us leave, Colonel—Ahah!" Breda suddenly yelled pointing his pen at the paragraph triumphantly. "Those bastards were trying to worm their way into getting some money from us! No way are we givin' more of our budget to—" Breda stopped and cleared his throat as he realized that everyone in the room was staring at him. "I mean… uh… So, how'd it go, Colonel?"

Colonel Mustang sighed and flopped down onto a couch in the room. "Not good. Apparently they still are saying they need everyone to be on duty to search for this armored killer."

"We were afraid of that," Breda muttered as he returned to examining his paperwork.

"'We'?"

"Yeah. Warrant Officer Falman," Breda said with a nod over his shoulder to the aforementioned officer, "Said that a Military Police officer was found dead earlier today, in a dumpster. They're doing an autopsy right now, but he appears to have been chopped up in the same manner everyone else. They're saying the armored murderer did it."

"Chopped up…?" Mustang muttered. He looked towards Falman. "Are you sure? That he was chopped into pieces like everyone else?"

Falman nodded. "Yes, sir. I was there myself. He _was_ missing a couple body parts, but that probably was because he looked, well… a bit chewed on. As if some _huge _stray dog took a couple of bites out of him before we got there and then had to leave. But anyways, he was...definitely chopped into pieces." Falman paused for a second, looking queasy at the memory, before suddenly spouting out factoids about the deceased MP. "The victim was Military Police Officer Huang, balding, middle-aged. He was a heavy smoker and drinker, and—"

"That's enough, Falman," Mustang said quietly as he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I know who you're talking about." He had seen this Huang character bossing around the inept MP rookies in what seemed like a lifetime ago. He had seemed to be an accomplished police officer, from the little Mustang had seen of him.

"Oh," was all Falman could say in reply. He glanced at Colonel Mustang covertly to see if he had just informed him of the death of a friend.

"It's alright," Mustang reassured him. "I only saw him once." He put his finger to his chin. "Now that you mention it, I almost forgot to ask you. Do you know a police officer named Isozaki?" The group of rookies had mentioned an Isozaki when they were taunting Huang.

"Yessir. Military Police Officer Isozaki. Husband of Military Police Officer Shihoko. Early twenties. Currently deceased," Falman recited.

"When?"

"During the incident when the Xingese assassin's apartment was raided," Falman railed off robotically.

Mustang bit his lip in thought. "Huang apparently was friends with this Isozaki… Are they completely ruling out a suicide?"

"Seems like it, sir," Falman replied. "But...doesn't it seem like it really was the armored murderer? Why would it be a suicide?"

"It doesn't seem right," Mustang muttered to himself. "They're too insistent with something they can't possibly be sure of. Everyone else the armored killer killed was female. And if he was chewed up with body parts missing...I suppose it's possible that Huang was found by stray dogs before we got there, but still..."

Breda glanced up from his paperwork. "It's just one more thing that doesn't match up, right? Sounds like we might have another case of government corruption. And if that's the case, they're getting pretty careless about hiding it."

"Government corruption, huh…?" muttered Mustang to himself. That reminded him of a certain murderer he had captured who had alleged the same thing. "I wonder if maybe that officer got murdered by that… that electricity…bastard," he said haltingly, unable to find the words to properly express the loathing that had welled up inside him at the thought of Hei. That man had critically wounded his Lieutenant, and that was not something that he would forgive easily. "If I remember right, that cop was onto him about his identity."

"Don't let your emotions get wrapped up in it, Colonel," Breda warned him. Mustang winced, slightly abashed, although the hatred still pulsated feverishly through his veins. But the rebuke brought him back into his senses enough to consider the situation. He imagined that he had, and rightfully so, probably lost some of his subordinates' trust. As much as the grouchy secretary had annoyed him, she had been right about one thing. It was all his fault. He had almost got two fellow subordinates killed over his commands in less than a day.

Mustang sighed and put a hand to his face, hiding it as he tried to calm himself down. He knew that he logically couldn't just go off and seek vengeance for all of his dead or injured friends and subordinates, or he would never be able to obtain the position of Fuhrer and fix the wrongs he had done. Nevertheless…it was such a temptation to go after the people who had attacked his subordinates, to watch gleefully as he burned them slowly to death…He shook himself, wrenching himself away from the enticing image in his mind. He knew on an instinctual level that his ambition to become Fuhrer couldn't coexist with vengeance. He knew that, but still… He sighed again after another slow breath, and remained silent until he felt that he was calm enough to speak normally once more. "Man… wasn't it bad enough that we had to deal with an armored killer? Now we have to deal with someone else. And they might even be on our side."

"And we have to make time to visit Havoc and Lieutenant Hawkeye," Breda said in what seemed to be a nonchalant voice as he returned to his paperwork, but Mustang noticed that his hand was trembling slightly as he signed at the bottom of a sheet of paper. Havoc was a good friend of Breda's.

Mustang glanced away, guilt consuming the remnants of his hatred, and leaving him with an aching, empty feeling for his failure to protect his subordinates. "Yeah, you're right. We can't forget about them."

"Sir," Breda told him quietly. "That, at least, is one thing I know I don't have to worry about."

Mustang closed his eyes slowly as the meaning of Breda's words hit him like a punch to the gut. "Yeah. No matter what happens to them, we won't forget them."

And once he found the people who had attacked them, they would never forget either. He would make sure of it.

He turned away from Breda and imagined Hei and the man in the sunglasses, the only attackers whose identities he was certain of, dissolve into flames with screams of pain.


	23. Humanity in the Inhuman and Vice Versa

A/N: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Darker than BLACK.

* * *

Hei stumbled slightly as he, Yin, November 11, and Parcel appeared in a dimly lit room. Hei chanced a quick glance at the source of light, even before he focused his attention to his other surroundings. It was an electric lamp—a potential weapon. He could see where it was plugged into the wall. His observation took up a split second before his eyes flicked to the waiting researchers. He could recognize some—the gold-toothed man, Dr. Schroeder, and even Mao was here, skulking half-hidden in the background.

"Ah! Hei," Dr. Schroeder spoke up in an excited voice. "So good to see you again. You've turned out to be quite the interesting Contractor, haven't you? Would you like to tell us why?"

Straight to the point. They weren't going to bother covering up their intentions; what they were trying to get him to admit. It had been obvious, but still… he didn't like it. It was too heavy-handed; they were too sure of themselves. Like they had something they could use against him.

"What about your Doll?" Dr. Schroeder asked him knowingly as Hei remained silent. "Why has she been changing?"

Hei's eyelids lowered to become a poorly concealed, half-lidded glare, but otherwise his face remained impassive. "She hasn't."

"No point in trying to lie," Dr. Schroeder told him while waving a finger at him, as if speaking to a child. "We know that your Doll was somehow able to lengthen the distance her specter could go. We heard the reports after Ishbal."

"Your Dolls can send their specters out just as far as Yin can," Hei replied in an ice-cold voice. He could feel unease welling up inside him. What if…they were really after Yin, and not him?

"Yes, but they could from the start," the slimy voice of the gold-toothed researcher butted in. "We used more philosopher's stones—" he didn't like the way the researcher's voice caressed the word, as if he was speaking of a lover "—on them. Their payment is less, and they all have strengthened control over their specters. They haven't changed ever since the experiment."

"That Doll, on the other hand," said another researcher in a covetous voice that made Hei shift unconsciously to hide Yin a little more from his sight. "She, as well as every other one of the first batch of Dolls, was a complete failure. None could send their specter farther than a couple of feet away, and they were incapable of performing even simple tasks when ordered. None of them could feed or dress themselves, much less use the bathroom on their own."

With the researcher describing how Yin had used to be, it accentuated how much she had truly changed. She could do everyday tasks such as feeding herself without a problem anymore—it had been a while since she had been in that state. And now… her face was just as blank as ever, so maybe the researchers couldn't tell but… she had found other ways of expressing herself. Her eyes were watchful, wary, and cautious of the researchers. She didn't like being here anymore than he did, in the place where they had so many painful memories.

"It was a total disaster. Which was why we tried to eliminate them in Ishbal," finished the gold-toothed man. _Rotting bodies… he shook shoulder after shoulder, trying to find survivors, but in vain. But… who knew, really? He couldn't help thinking that maybe he had passed over some live Dolls because they were so cadaver-like most of the time anyways._ "We thought we had succeeded. All reports indicated the Dolls had died."

_Yin was the only thing keeping us from being ambushed,_ Hei thought._ Contractors aren't stupid. They wouldn't turn her in since, once she somehow managed to lengthen the distance her specter could go, __she was the only thing keeping us alive._

"We only got reports about her once she had escaped, and with you," a researcher Hei couldn't identify in the dim light continued. "And we later heard reports of a killer, matching your description, acting oddly, even… irrationally. So, one more time. Why are you and the Doll changing?"

Hei glared them all down. He would not tell them anything. They had done nothing but destroy the lives of everyone he had cared about. Despite being alchemists, they themselves didn't abide by the rule of alchemy—you cannot receive without first giving something. Equivalent Exchange. He would tell them nothing.

Dr. Schroeder sighed. "Oh dear, oh dear. I was afraid it would come to this. But in the name of research, we must get to the bottom of this anomaly."

Right on cue, a gunshot rang throughout the room. He automatically tensed, and his eyes swept over the room—_where had it come from?_—but the bullet hadn't hit him. They had been shooting at something else. Or…someone else. His eyes widened as he came to a realization, and his attention was completely captured as he heard a shift behind him. Where Yin was. He whirled around to see Yin, stoic expression still frozen on her face…with a bullet hole drilled through her skull.

It felt like the world should have frozen, that everything should have paused so that he could try to comprehend what had just happened. But it didn't stop, and Yin collapsed limply to the floor like a ragdoll before he could register that she was falling. He stared blankly at her. What had just happened?

_Why don't you get it? _his Contract snapped at him. _She's dead, obviously. She was shot. Stop standing there like an idiot. Whoever fired that gun might attack you next._

_Dead?_

He felt like a stranger in his own body as he looked down at her. A dull sense of shock permeated him, and he didn't even realize that he was stumbling towards her until he was kneeling by her side, staring at the bloody hole oozing scarlet beads of blood, which flowed in slender crimson streams from Yin's forehead down her face. He felt his hand rise of its own accord and hover, almost inquisitively, above the bullet hole. _She's dead?_ he asked himself dumbly once more.

_Yes, and so will you be if you don't move! _His Contract screamed at him. _If they didn't hesitate to kill her, they might kill you too!_

He shook his head, oblivious to the Contract's demands, still unable to tear his eyes away from the gaping, dark bullet hole. Yin couldn't be dead. She was alive just a second ago. The researchers wouldn't kill her; they had wanted to know why she was changing. Hadn't they?

He felt something wet against his leg and a glance told him that blood was seeping into his pants' legs. He felt himself take a small, sharp intake of breath. The feeling of blood was all too familiar, made the event far too tangible. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the rational part of him realized that the Contract was right; he had seen this happen so many times that he supposed it shouldn't be a shock. Yin was dead.

No, she couldn't be, the more human side of him argued. It strained to think of a reason why this was so, but…Yin just couldn't be dead. "Yin," he said in an almost imploring voice, reaching out to shake her shoulder, but she didn't stir. "Yin!" he said once more emphatically, his voice breaking as she again didn't respond. His hand fell back to his side.

_See? She's dead._

He felt frozen. His muscles, his breathing, his heartbeat… even time seemed to slow. He sat stock still, his muscles locked in place, his fingernails digging into his palm, drawing blood. Yin stared up at him with empty eyes. No, he corrected himself. Not Yin. Yin's corpse. Her empty, glazed over eyes bored into him accusingly, and abruptly, he felt some internal wall crack inside him. Emotions flooded forth like never before, drowning him. The mask that was his face stayed in place, but the deluge of emotions snaked around his heart and constricted. It was hard to breathe; his breaths were turning ragged. It was a familiar feeling, one he had known he would have to experience eventually after letting himself get too close to Yin. But still…no matter how many times he experienced it, no matter how many times he lost people he cared about, the sensation didn't dull, but left a deeper scar each time.

It hurt.

He took another jagged breath and closed his eyes, trying to block everything out. He had to escape from this, had to try to pretend that this wasn't real. He couldn't stand to see Yin's empty eyes staring at him any longer, couldn't stand to see the proof that she was really dead. That he was now completely alone.

He forced his eyes open, lifted his hand from where it was locked rigidly in place at his side, to close those soulless, condemning eyes with a trembling hand. But—blood—Yin's blood. His eyes flew shut once more. Yin's blood covered his hands, and the sickly crimson color remained imprinted in his eyes; red-colored dots burst under his eyelids.

"Hmm… interesting. So that's their reaction," he heard a voice say. The sound slowly percolated through his frazzled mind, which automatically assigned it as belonging to one of the researchers. One of the people who had killed Yin. The crimson color of Yin's blood that was now permanently imprinted in his memory throbbed sickeningly, like a beating heart, and his teeth gritted as another emotion flooded him. Rage… the red hue seemed to encompass him as his previous restrained anger at the researchers suddenly flared into a murderous fury. He felt his killing mask settle upon his face, and he stood up, barely registering the agony it was causing him to stand with his full weight on his injured foot. Red-hot wrath coursed through him, wiping everything out, although his face showed nothing. He would kill them, no matter what. They didn't deserve to live while Yin was… a spasm of pain wracked him, feeding the flames of rage.

Without another thought, he lunged forward, grabbed the electric lamp he had noticed when he first came in the room, yanked the plug out of the outlet with a vicious tug, and tore the wire from the lamp. The copper conductor poking out from the inside of the wire wasn't the entirely metal weapon he was used to, but it would be enough.

_I want to stay with Hei forever, _Yin's voice echoed out of the depths of his memory.

_Nothing lasts forever._

"W-what are you—?" began a researcher. He was silenced as Hei whipped the plug end of the cord in his direction, and electrocuted him. The scientist screamed loudly once before slumping to the floor to join Yin. Hei threw the end of the makeshift wire to another researcher, who was electrocuted as he tried to run away. And another. And another. Screams filled the room, and the scientists ran every which way, trying to escape from him. One tripped and turned to look at him, nearly frothing at the mouth in terror. Hei killed him. And the foreign-looking woman running away, clutching a clipboard. And the kind-looking blond man who had been watching the proceedings from the back with distaste. Hei analyzed the scientists' movements with the cold logic that his Contract provided, and utilized it to focus through the red haze of his rage, to kill every last one of them.

"Stop him!" the screech of a panicked scientist cut through the noise. "November 11, Parcel, Mao… what are you doing? Don't just stand there!" The scientist uttered another small scream as Hei, with his frighteningly stoic face still in place, killed another nearby researcher.

"My apologies," November 11 told him with a rather frigid smile. "But that would simply end up in my death. There's no supply of water here, you see. And I'm not going to risk my life to get within attacking distance."

Parcel leaned back casually against the wall behind her, but she was watching Hei's actions with a slightly furrowed brow. "You brought the wrong Contractors if you wanted us to protect you. None of us except November 11 are really all that powerful." Mao shrunk back into the shadows, trying to pretend he hadn't been spoken to.

"Be rational!" screamed the man in panic as he sprinted for the exit. "You'll never make it out of here alive if we're killed!"

"In any case, either way I'll be killed," November 11 told him lightly. "Killed by Hei, or killed by the government, it's the same end result. If I'm going to be killed either way and there doesn't appear to be any rational choice I can make… it seems that I'm allowed to make my own decision. Therefore…" November 11 told the man with a smile as Hei's wire whipped towards him. "I'll let you die." And the man did, seconds later when the wire reached him.

"That's enough, Claude," the gold-toothed man's voice said, cutting through the turmoil unfolding below him from. "Stop the illusion."

Hei electrocuted another researcher, whom he vaguely recognized as the assistant to Dr. Schroeder, heedless of the golden-toothed man's words. He would no longer listen to them; they could take nothing else from him. Everything was gone.

November 11's, Mao's, and Parcel's collective intake of breath caught his attention, however, and his blank wall of fury slipped enough for a second to realize what the man had said. _Illusion?_ Hope blossomed before he could stop it. _That might have been an illusion?_ If he was wrong, if Yin was really dead, that fragile, blooming feeling of hope would shatter, and then…

_It'll completely crush you if you're wrong, _his Contract, which had remained in a satisfied silence ever since he had started on the rampage, suddenly warned him._ They'll take advantage of that and kill you. Don't look now. Kill them first, and then you can check. _

But the hope was consuming him despite his Contract's words, compelling to look slowly around to where Yin's bloody corpse should be. _What if she's dead! _his Contract screamed. _You'll be even more useless than before! What if—_

He turned his head. To see a completely intact Yin standing where the cadaver had been a moment ago. With no bullet hole in her head.

Hei stared at her, his mouth slightly parted. Instead of the world spinning, it seemed to have completely flopped over. He felt disoriented, as if in a dream, not quite sure what was real. _What if it's fake, don't let it fool you__—_he took a small, wavering step forward. "Yin?" he asked, his voice shaking a little, something he wouldn't normal allow himself, but now…he couldn't think. Maybe none of this was real, and he had finally gone insane.

She turned her blank gaze towards his voice. He could see tear tracks on her cheeks, and he could see her eyes widen as she recognized his voice. There were uncharacteristic hints of emotion on her face, grief, pain, and now, surprise. The same look of surprise that had been on the face of the illusion-corpse just moments ago. This observation shook him out of his stupor, and he stumbled forward, still clutching the wire, and engulfed her in a hug.

"Hei," she muttered from her head's position against his shoulder. Hei inhaled slowly, trying to calm himself down, but also trying to block out the stench of her blood, still burned into his nostrils, with something, anything, else. The faint aroma of the cheap shampoo that he had always bought for the both of them, the only brand he could afford with their limited budget, wafted from her hair. It smelled somewhat harsh, almost like cleaning chemicals, but he took another slow, deep breath. The smell meant that it was really Yin, that she was alive, that she was here…and she was fine. Not hurt at all. His grip on Yin tightened slightly as relief rocked him. Yin stood stock still for a moment. Then, her arms slowly raised as she, tentatively at first, then more strongly, hugged him back. "Hei," she repeated dazedly.

"Well, I think this little spectacle more than proves it," he could hear Dr. Schroeder crow in excitement. "That Doll even cried when it was shown an illusion of the Contractor's death! It has changed! Simply amazing! An evolving Doll! Such a thing should be impossible."

Hei knew he should move, should assess the threat further, should see what had caused the illusion in the first place…but he was rooted to the spot as he struggled with the whiplash his emotions had put him through. First a crushing despair, then rage, now relief. _ See? _His Contract whispered to him beneath the turmoil of his emotions. _E__motions weaken you. You're open to attack! You're so afraid of being alone that you'll get yourself killed over someone else. And a Doll at that. Let me take over again. Then you won't be able to feel alone at all anyways._

Hei shook his head, his eyes closed, and his head fell forward limply to rest on Yin's shoulder. It was true that right now he was completely unable to focus but… he inhaled in a ragged breath. She was alive. And he wasn't alone. There was no reason to retreat to being an emotionless Contractor once more, just to numb the pain. All he could feel now was relief. No pain.

His Contract slunk to the back of his mind again. _Once she dies, and she will eventually, you'll give in. You know that, don't you?_

Hei ignored his Contract as he loosened his hold on Yin and stepped back to look at her eyes, feeling relieved all over again that, although her eyes could not see him, they did not hold the all too familiar glassed-over look of a corpse. He still barely registered the enemies behind him in the swirl of emotions, something that he hadn't felt to such an extent in such a long time that he was completely caught up in it.

"…Indeed," he could hear the slightly confused voice of the gold-toothed man say. Hei forced his head to tilt so that he could watch the man out of the corner of his eyes, and at the same time still make sure that Yin was still here, still alive. "The Contractor reacted far beyond expectations as well. But how…? A Contract cannot just be taken away. It was forged by the Gate, and to make any further transactions with the Gate, they would've had to open the Gate once more. And that requires payment. Yet…" he paused, clearly mystified. He tapped his chin contemplatively. The look he gave Yin helped Hei to ground himself more firmly in reality. They were both still in danger, and if he didn't pull himself together… He wouldn't let that happen to Yin again. He swallowed bile at the thought. He could _never_ let that happen again. He turned around, arms slightly spread as he stood protectively in front of Yin, to watch the gold-toothed researcher cautiously, doing his best to hide how his hands still shook. Protecting Yin would be near-impossible if the researchers really wanted to hurt her, as he full well knew. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so vulnerable.

The researcher had stopped tapping his chin, and had opened his mouth to continue speaking. "Yet it seems they changed gradually, and without having to pay the huge cost required to open the Gate."

Hei's eyes swept over the remaining researchers and Contractors as the man finished his assessment. There were significantly less researchers now; apparently his killing spree hadn't been part of the illusion. Researchers' corpses littered the floor, grotesquely contorted. Many of the scientists kept glancing at the cadavers fearfully, and then back to Hei. Although… his eyes narrowed. There was one other person he hadn't seen before who didn't seem frightened in the least. It had to be… _The illusion-caster Contractor._ The illusion-caster was currently munching on a hibiscus flower. That had to be his payment; it was a strangely easy one. But even more bizarre—he was wearing a vibrant, sky-blue shirt, and had purple shorts to match the purple highlighting in his hair. Colors that attracted attention, attracted danger. Was this yet another irrational Contractor? Or was provoking attack just a strategy of his?

"So, what do we do?" asked another of the few remaining researchers. "How do we proceed?"

A slow, nasty smile spread across the gold-toothed man's face. Hei braced himself for attack in front of Yin, whom he could feel, once again, was the target of the researchers. He would protect her. It wouldn't happen again. It couldn't.

"Hei," the golden-toothed researcher said in an absurdly fake, friendly voice. "We've seen with our own eyes now that you two are abnormal subjects. Now, tell us… How did this happen?"

Hei's half-lidded glare caused most of the researchers to avert their eyes nervously. The golden-toothed man correctly interpreted the gesture as negatory.

He sighed. "Well then… are you sure? You're powerless against us. Claude here," he indicated the Contractor with purple highlights, "can completely control you—everything from your movements to the intricacies of your mind. We can just force one of you to tell us."

Hei glowered at him, resisting the urge to kill the researcher. He couldn't leave Yin unprotected. And giving in to these… these sub-humans…wasn't even a consideration. "Don't try to tell me what to do," he ground out, not bothering to hide the hate evident in his voice.

The golden-toothed man didn't seem bothered in the least. "Alright then." He looked at Claude meaningfully.

"It's the Dolls," Parcel suddenly spoke up in a blank voice. All the Contractors' heads whipped in her direction, and the beginning of a sneer appeared on golden-toothed man's face. "I realized it just a bit ago. They're changing… us. Me—with Champ—Hei with Yin, and…" Parcel's voice halted for a minute as her mouth formed words she seemed to not want to speak. "No…November. Ele…ven. W-with… July."

November 11 raised his eyebrows as he looked at Parcel. Hei could see the shadow of a flickering glance towards the illusion-caster from beneath November 11's sunglasses. "And how's that?" he politely asked Parcel. She didn't look at him, but continued to stare towards Claude in a dazed sort of way, clutching the bear ears on top of her head absentmindedly.

"'I must say, I'm actually glad you've been doing your best to stop them. I suppose I'm allowed to feel that much'," quoted Parcel in a decent imitation of November 11's voice. "B-back in the—in the forest—you seemed like you didn't want to capture them. I thought it was s-strange. Irrational. A-and you t-tried to tip off the Elrics a-about Contractors. Before P-P-Pride stopped you. I heard a-about it." Parcel paused in another internal struggle. "T-then I r-remembered. You had… b-been helping July. G-giving him more food. When the r-r-researchers weren't looking."

Parcel suddenly stopped and shook her head, as if trying to clear it, and glanced around in confusion. Did she remember what had happened? The researchers all ignored her, however, and looked towards November 11 appraisingly. He seemed unaffected by their scrutiny, and continued to smile benevolently towards them. "It was only rational to eventually try to get a Doll loyal to me, since I had heard that it seemed to work with your test subject here." He sighed. "So. Will you try to turn me into a research subject as well?"

"'Try'?" quoted a researcher.

November 11 just smiled.

"Don't look at us like that. Like you're superior to us," a bearded researcher told him furiously. "Contractors, Dolls, as well as anyone who's seen the Gate like the human sacrifices—you've lost your humanity. You're monsters."

"I see…" November 11 stated as he finally took off his sunglasses. The emergence of his ice-blue eyes seemed to scare the man into silence. To Hei, the eyes did seem to hold some hint of emotion below the surface; he had had enough practice interpreting Yin's eyes. November 11 took a step forward, and the bearded man took an unconscious step back simultaneously. "You think of us as no longer human, so you feel no remorse in killing us. And now—"

"They've been stalling us so reinforcement Contractors can come back them up," Hei muttered suddenly in warning as he heard the faint echo of footsteps coming from down the hall.

November 11 paused for a moment before his smile widened slightly as if this information didn't surprise him in the least. He put his sunglasses back on. "I've heard that one of humanity's greatest strengths is its unpredictability. You act illogically, so it truly is difficult to foretell how a human will react since we can't understand such impulses." His sunglasses flashed as he looked down at the researchers. "But one group that I've always found to be predictable—those who are weak."

"We're not…!" began a young researcher in the back indignantly.

"Sub-human or not, at least we can't feel any fear," Hei spoke up in his soft voice, a scornful edge creeping into the murmur. "We can't be cowards. Lucky for us." It wasn't completely true, and he knew it. It was true that fear was an extremely rare emotion for Contractors—fear was illogical, clouded the mind, and generally made it easier to get killed. But, as he had experienced just a few minutes ago, he himself could definitely feel fear. His eyes flicked to Yin, and back to the bearded researcher as he spoke again.

"Don't talk like you—!"

"Sergei, they're here!" Dr. Schroeder exclaimed excitedly to the bearded researcher. "Oh, look! We'll get to see the clash of the products of our research as we capture them!"

Mao slunk back towards the exit, ears down and tail tucked. "Count me out. I don't want to be involved in this."

"If we're able to escape, Mao, you'll be free," Hei spoke up. "You can inhabit any animal you want."

Mao frantically shook his head as he continued to back away. "That's not worth it. Survival's a Contractor's top priority."

"If you don't leave that body, it'll eventually rot," Hei reminded him.

"And I'll be killed now if I stay here."

"There's a chance you'll survive if you leave with us. If you don't, you won't last long."

Mao paused indecisively for a moment more before he edged towards them, ears flat against his head. "Guess I'm staying."

"Wonderful!" Hei could hear Dr. Schroeder cry. Hei glanced up to see at least ten Contractors, some of whom had been with him in Ishbal, run into the room. Former comrades.

"April," he heard November 11 mutter. And sure enough, the female Ishbalan Contractor that had been his constant companion in Ishbal was in the group they were facing. He took off his sunglasses once more and tucked them into a pocket on his shirt. Hei could once again see a hint of something in his eyes… regret, maybe? Whatever it was, Parcel's observation had definitely been correct. November 11 had changed, if only slightly, from the casual murderer he had been in Ishbal.

"…Makes no sense," Hei could hear Claude, the illusion-caster, tell Dr. Schroeder. "I can just use my Contract—"

Dr. Schroeder waved him off as if he was an annoying fly. The Contractor's mouth tightened into a thin white line, but he didn't say anything. "This will be fascinating!" Dr. Schroeder extolled. He dramatically lifted his arm and pointed it at Hei, Yin, Mao, Parcel, and November 11. "Attaaaack!"


	24. In Danger

A/N: I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

Outside the cell that the Elric brothers were in, the torch flickered, the light dancing across Al's armor as he watched Ed, who had been staring pensively at the wall for a while now. Ed was completely still, his hand at his chin, fully absorbed in whatever he was thinking about.

"What do you think he meant?" Al suddenly asked Ed nervously.

Ed jumped upon hearing Al's query. "Huh? What's that?" he mumbled distractedly.

"The Fuhrer is coming to punish us. That's what that November 11 guy said. Remember…?" Al asked doubtingly. Ed had returned to staring at the wall while Al had been talking. "Ed!" Al said in a loud voice.

Ed jumped even higher this time. He whipped around furiously to face Al. "_What?_" he ground out, bristling at Al in annoyance.

"Now's not the time to be day-dreaming!"

"Yes, it is," retorted Ed. "I think I've found a way to get you body back."

"Of course it's not time to be—wait…what?" Al said confusedly. He gasped sharply. "You mean… have you thought of something?"

Ed nodded. "I've been thinking… about what Hei said. Or what he said his sister said. That performing human transmutations using mixed blood mixes the spirits of those two people. That's exactly what we did."

Al leaned forward urgently. "So…? What does that mean?"

"It means your body may still be alive. It's just that it'd still be at the Gate," Ed said as he leaned back against the stone wall with a sigh. "If the spirit connects the soul and body, then theoretically, your body may be connected to mine through our shared spirits. Maybe some of my food and sleep gets transferred to you. Maybe your body's still alive."

"But how can you be sure?" Al argued, although inwardly, he was desperately hoping that Ed was right. "How do we know that my body isn't already dead and decomposed?"

Ed winced slightly at the image, but thought about it carefully. "I thought about that, but… the Gate said the price was for you to be taken, not to have you killed. Maybe we have a similar situation to Hei's, but your body is still there, unlike Bai, who was killed and taken inside the Gate."

"The Truth _does_ seem to be pretty specific," Al murmured. If he had a heart, he knew it would be pounding right now. "And it never did say that my price was to die. So I wonder if that means we now have two Gates at our Portal of Truth?"

"Who knows," Ed said. "If we can ever open the Gate again, I guess we'll find out for ourselves, won't we?"

"Yep."

They sat in silence for a short while again, until Al broke it once more. "So… what do you think the Fuhrer is going to do to punish us?"

"A court-martial maybe?"

"I don't think it would be so public. They seem very intent on the whole secrecy thing," Al replied thoughtfully. "I hope they're not thinking about torture."

"They wouldn't be able to hurt you," Ed pointed out, feeling strangely relieved, for once, that he had bound Al's soul to the suit of armor.

"Yes, they would," Al responded quietly. "If they tortured you in front of me."

Ed winced. "Speculation isn't getting us anywhere. We'll just have to wait calmly for him to come, and—"

"Hello there, my young alchemists."

They both jumped at the sound of the Fuhrer's voice from down the hall. Ed jumped up and glared at the Fuhrer, who stopped and smiled at them, hands behind his back, as he reached their cell. "What do you want?"

"Just to visit," the Fuhrer told them pleasantly.

"Stop with the crap," Ed snapped. "You're here to punish us right? For something we didn't even do!"

The Fuhrer continued to smile at him. "As expected of one of our brightest alchemists," the Fuhrer told him, his voice still overly-polite. "Come."

"Not a chance!" Ed responded angrily. "Not without a fight!"

The Fuhrer simply walked away from their cell, and Ed shot Al a confused glance. Al shrugged slightly, and his armor squeaked in concert with the motion. Ed's confusion quickly turned to trepidation as he heard the rusty cell door next to them open with a bang. Wait… wasn't that where Parcel had said Winry was being held? His insides seemed to turn ice.

"No!" Al gasped as he too realized what the Fuhrer was doing. "He wouldn't… would he?"

Their fears were confirmed when the Fuhrer reappeared in front of their cell, with Winry right beside him. Her face was tear-streaked, both with old and new tears, and her eyes were puffy and impossibly round in fear. She had good reason. The Fuhrer had a sword held at her neck.

"Winry!" Ed yelled as he ran forward, only to be stopped by the Fuhrer drawing the sword closer to Winry's neck. He gulped and his eyes reluctantly flicked from Winry's terrified eyes to the Fuhrer's, which had suddenly transformed from being kind to full of deadly intent. Someone like the Fuhrer wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

"Winry," he heard Al whisper behind him. Ed took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm himself, to be able think rationally. When people he cared about were threatened, he sometimes flew into such a rage he ended up making mistakes. He couldn't afford to do that in this situation.

"We'll go," he told the Fuhrer in a fairly steady voice that nonetheless shook with concealed fear and fury. "Just let Winry go. We understand that she's a hostage now."

The Fuhrer raised an eyebrow. "A hostage? My dear Fullmetal Alchemist, you seem to have misunderstood. If young Winry here was a hostage, why didn't anyone notify you when I took her?"

"W-well, why else—?" Al stuttered.

"She'll be your punishment for disobeying orders."

"We didn't do what you think we did!" Ed yelled at the Fuhrer.

The Fuhrer continued on without batting an eye. "You need to understand the seriousness of your actions." The Fuhrer's gaze upon them intensified, and Ed could feel his heartbeat galloping in fear. _Winry's in danger! _his instincts screamed at him. _What are you doing standing there? Go save her!_ No. He had to stay calm, try to talk his way out of this somehow. He couldn't do anything, not without alchemy. "It's difficult to find test subjects of the appropriate age that won't generate suspicion. So this works out quite nicely. Your friend here will be turned into a Doll."

_A Doll?_ Ed repeated to himself slowly inside his head. _But that means…_ He remembered Hei telling of how Dolls were rendered unable to do anything, how Yin had suffered because of her transformation… "No!" he burst out. He charged at the Fuhrer, and was reminded of his helplessness once more as the sword pressed slightly into Winry's cheek, and blood slowly trickled down. He stopped in his tracks. She gasped and shut her eyes tightly, trembling. But then they suddenly flew open again, and she glared at Ed with conviction.

"Ed!" she screeched in a high-pitched, obviously afraid, voice. "If you dare listen to him, I swear, I'm going to beat you with my wrench so hard you won't remember who you are anymore! You too, Al!"

"We don't have anyone else besides Winry," Al told the Fuhrer in an even voice. "If you kill her, how will you make us continue to obey you?"

The Fuhrer cocked an eyebrow again. "Surely the lives of everyone in your hometown would be sufficient?"

Ed gaped at him wordlessly for a moment before he finally found his voice. "You—you…!"

The Fuhrer once again ignored him and turned away. "Come, Elric brothers. If you want to see your friend live, you will watch her become a Doll without protest. Otherwise…"

Ed shuddered as he contemplated the alternative. This was turning out to be more nightmarish than he had ever imagined.

* * *

Mustang sighed wearily as he entered the hospital and checked in with the nurse at the reception desk. Finally. He had been working all day, and overtime at that. Now he would finally be able to visit Havoc and Lieutenant Hawkeye, as he should have been doing this whole day. He just hoped that he wouldn't fall asleep this time.

He neared the hospital room, his footsteps echoing on the polished hospital floor. He could feel worry burrowing further into him at each step. What if they had died while he was at work? Someone surely would have called him. He had given them his work phone number after all. But maybe they just would have wanted to break the news to him in a more private setting? His insides clenched at the thought. Maybe—

He shook his head forcefully. They would be fine. They were his subordinates after all, people he had hand-chosen because of their abilities and strength. They would have to be fine.

He opened the door to his subordinates' room slowly. Somewhere in the back of his head, he noted that his hand was shaking as it loosely gripped the door handle. But the majority of his attention was focused on his two subordinates, still apparently unconscious. And the woman in there with them, who was most definitely not a nurse.

His eyes widened in alarm. He pulled on his ignition glove and asked the intruder warily, "Who are you? The nurse downstairs said they hadn't had any visitors today." _An assassin? __Maybe one of my subordinates saw something they shouldn't have, and they want to finish them off__._

The woman jumped up at the sound of his voice from where she was kneeling by Havoc's bed and turned to warily observe him with an inscrutable look on her face. She had long, black hair, exotic eyes with a reddish tint to them_ (was she part Ishbalan?)_, and was wearing a dress with a high neckline that covered most of her body. But still…even with the concealing dress he could tell that, with a body like hers, she could probably have any man she wanted.

Not that mattered if she was going to kill his subordinates. "I asked who you were!" barked out Mustang. "Answer me!"

"I'm sorry," the woman said in a sultry voice. "I didn't know if they'd let me see him. So I snuck in."

"Answer the question."

"My name's Solaris," the woman replied as she slowly stood up and gazed at him. "I'm Havoc's girlfriend."

Mustang reached desperately back into the far reaches of his mind, trying to remember… what had Havoc said about his most recent girlfriend? Mustang had brushed it off as unimportant; Havoc never was able to keep a girl for long. But… _could he really have made a catch like_ this? he wondered as he eyed Solaris. "No way," he answered himself aloud before he could stop himself.

"Excuse me?" the woman said in what seemed to be a genuinely affronted voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh…" Mustang hedged uncomfortably. If this really _was_ Havoc's girlfriend, then Havoc was going to kill him if he drove this woman away. "Well… just that Havoc hasn't had very good luck with women, and…"

"Oh, that," answered Solaris in disdain as she tossed her long hair over her shoulder. "I've heard about that, but I can't see _why_. He's just so good-looking," she said, and casually bent down to caress Havoc's cheek.

Mustang couldn't help but stare at her. _She's serious?_

"What?" Solaris asked in annoyance as she glared at Mustang. She withdrew her hand from Havoc's face, and crossed her arms under her chest with a 'hmph!'.

"Do you still intend to stay in a relationship with Havoc?" Mustang asked her bluntly. "If you don't, then leave now. He doesn't need to deal with heartbreak on top of his injury."

Solaris drew herself up indignantly. "Of course I do. Havoc's a wonderful man; I don't care if he's lost his legs. It doesn't change who he is."

Mustang's eyebrows rose higher. This really _was_ a great catch on Havoc's part. "Well then," he said with a slightly embarrassed cough as he put away his ignition gloves. "Uh…sorry."

"It's quite alright," Solaris replied haughtily. "I just received news that I'm having some trouble back home. So I need to leave anyway. Keep him company for me." And with that, she slid out the window onto the ground.

Mustang watched her exit with still-raised eyebrows. He would have to request that Havoc and the Lieutenant be moved to a higher floor. Something more dangerous than a girlfriend might sneak in next time.

* * *

"Attaaack!"

The next few seconds were a jumbled chaotic mess. Hei grabbed Yin and pushed her to the ground as a compressed air wave from a Contractor, Amagiri, hurtled towards them. It passed over their heads and crashed through the wall opposite of them, only dissipating when it collided with the stone wall in the outside corridor. Hei tried to stand again, albeit painfully slowly, doing his best to shield Yin as he did so. Once he managed to stand, he bent low, keeping Yin's head down, and limped as fast as he could to the nearest wall. He needed to keep his back, at the very least, protected.

A young Contractor he had never seen before, who was around early middle-school-age, rushed him and Yin, throwing pebbles at them as he approached. Hei fell to the ground, pulling Yin down with him, as the pebbles flew over his head and exploded against the wall behind him. He threw the wire towards the Contractor, who dodged out of the way and threw another handful of pebbles at him and Yin from where they lay on the ground.

Hei grabbed Yin and rolled away the best he could, debris from the miniature explosion raining down on the two of them. Smoke obscured his vision, and he knew that, for the moment at least, his enemy couldn't see him either. In low visibility situations like this, he couldn't help but wish for his normal wire, which was retractable, completely metallic, and so much faster than this flimsy electrical cord, with which he had to hit his target exactly with the metal part of the plug. But it would have to do.

He pulled the wire back from his position on the ground, crouched protectively over Yin, and whipped it once more towards the attacking Contractor as soon as he caught his shadowy form through the smoke. A sudden, high-pitched scream told him the wire had found its target. He cautiously started to get up again, looking around, back still to the wall. _Wait…_he whipped around._ That Contractor's explosion blew out the wall, so—_

_ Movement._ He squinted his eyes, and he could make out something—someone. A scantily-clad, female Xingese Contractor, armed with two swords, was indeed hiding where the wall had crumbled away as he had expected. _A trap. _They had planned to destroy the wall beforehand, and had been hoping that he'd continue to keep his back to the ruined wall so that they could attack him from behind…

The woman sprinted towards him, swords held aloft and ready. He roughly pushed Yin out of the way, and she stumbled and fell to the ground a short distance away. He threw the wire towards the incoming attacker, but with an expertly-executed slice of her swords, she cut the cord in two. Hei's eyes narrowed; his last and only weapon was gone. He tossed the remnants of the power cord to the side, and prepared to fight with close combat electricity alone as the female Contractor came within sword-distance.

A stab. He dodged to the right, out of the way, but another sword was already being swung at him, and he ducked, feeling the breeze of the sword passing overhead as it just missed him. She swung her sword at him from overhead, and as he somersaulted out of the way he heard it clash against the stone floor with a loud, metallic sound.

He scooped his hand against the floor without taking his eyes off the enemy, hoping that he could emulate the strategy of the Contractor he had just defeated. To his relief, he managed to scoop up some pebbles and threw a handful at the female Contractor's face. She shielded her eyes, and he lurched towards her. He was almost there, just a little more and the Contractor would be finished—

Suddenly, he slammed to floor with a shocked grunt. _What...?_

"Surprised?" the female Contractor asked him with an amused look on her face as she took her hands away from her face. "I am. That you managed to hold out that long against me, and with an injured foot at that."

He heard the thunk of something metallic hitting stone near him. An explosion of pain instantaneously rocked him, and his eyes flew wide, barely able to register the fact that the woman had managed to stab her dao sword cleanly through his injured foot.

"Gaah!" he couldn't stop the shout of pain from escaping his lips. His vision whited out for a second, the image of the approaching Xingese woman fading in and out. _Stay conscious!_ The female Contractor reached down and sharply yanked the sword out of his foot, and Hei couldn't stop another grunt of pain from escaping, although he bit down on his cheek so hard his mouth was filled with the taste of blood.

"That should do it. I don't want anymore trouble from you." The Xingese Contractor smiled seductively at him, took off one of the bracelets she was wearing, and threw it at his feet. As soon as the bracelet hit the ground, everything became even heavier, as if gravity… His pain-muddled mind came to a bleary realization. _A gravity manipulator._ He was laid flat on the ground, unable to move due to the increased weight of everything around him. His foot—_it's so badly injured, will I ever be able to walk right again?—_was pressed into the ground and he fought the strong desire to vomit. The pain from his foot was excruciating.

"So, Mr. Black Reaper," the Xingese woman said with a slight smile on her full lips as she referred to him by the nickname he was known by in the streets. She began to take off one of her earrings. "Are you going to tell your secret? We know that you're changing, but how can a Doll cause that?"

Hei ignored her, panting in quick, rattling breaths, as his eyes dazedly swept around the room. November 11 was still fighting, Parcel had disappeared somewhere, and Mao was locked in a kennel. And Yin… she had stood up, and was staring straight ahead—like usual, but not. All of a sudden, she turned her head and looked at him, straight in the eyes, without using her specter. Despite the pain he was in, her gaze captured the majority of his attention. Something was _wrong _with Yin. That downward tilt of her eyebrows, the slight frown on her mouth—it didn't seem like Yin at all. She impassively watched Hei battle with his pain, and her expression slowly began to change, her frown deepening.

Abruptly, the Xingese Contractor who had stabbed him screamed in a high, chilling voice that made the heads of nearly everyone in the room towards her. She slammed into the ground, body pressed firmly to the floor, as if… she was using her own power over gravity on _herself_. Hei stared at her, his vision starting to cloud over. Why? Why would she use her power on herself? It was like she was committing suicide, something no Contract would allow a Contractor to do, unless…. He remembered how lately his own powers had been manipulated by that unseen, blue-hued _something_. Could it be the same thing?

He didn't know, and he could feel himself becoming more detached from the scene, being dragged into unconsciousness by the shock from his new foot wound. But not before he saw the Xingese Contractor finally die, crushed against the floor by her own power. Not before he saw standing over the corpse the same, blueish figure that had appeared earlier, when he had been unable to electrocute the Elric brothers and which had prevented him from killing the Lieutenant. Not before he recognized the humanoid, ghostlike figure as it walked over and touched his foot wound in a gesture that was an unmistakable caress. This blue figure… was Yin's specter.

He succumbed to unconscious, and he faded away into that empty white void so reminiscent of the Truth. All alone in the empty white, empty all except for his Gate, and the extra Gate to always remind him of what he had lost.


	25. Unexpected Aid

A/N: Sorry, this is a fairly short chapter.

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

Ed tried not to focus on the sword at Winry's neck as the Fuhrer led them through the underground passage. If only he could be up there with her. Just being able to tell her false words of comfort would make him feel so much better. But he was apparently denied that as well; he and Al were trapped, and he couldn't see any way out of it. They had finally found themselves in a situation in which they were over their heads, and Winry would pay for it.

Al hit him softly with his arm restraints. Ed turned to give a questioning glance, and Al leaned in to whisper, "Don't go beating yourself up now, Big Brother. Focus on helping Winry."

"No talking," the Fuhrer commanded, and Al hastily pulled away. Ed inhaled slowly, and exhaled. Al was right. He had to protect Winry somehow. He couldn't just give in yet. Could he…? He internally winced at the possibility of failing, and what would happen to Winry. She would get a much worse punishment than being turned into a Doll. So… what could he do?

* * *

Al watched forlornly as he saw his brother already berating himself over Winry's capture and pending punishment. It was both their faults, but most likely, Ed would put all the blame on himself. Just as he had that night when they had tried to bring their mother back to life. And when they had ended up killing her.

_Don't think about that now,_ he chided himself. _You're as bad as Ed. Focus on the situation. There has to be a way out. There always is._

_ There wasn't for Hei, _another part of him whispered. _He lost everything. You could, too._

_ No. Don't think about it._

Before he could stop himself, the image of the mangled, still-living body of their mother, the _thing_ they had transmuted came to their mind. _You're not all powerful. Mom, Nina, Martel, Hughes… they all died because neither you nor Ed could do anything. Maybe Winry will too._

_ No,_ Al thought to himself. He could feel the strange sensation of a rising panic, without any of the physical responses, fill him. He couldn't let that sense of paralyzing fear that was overwhelming Ed now get to him. He had to think for the both of them. _I just need to think. Concentrate._

_ Too late,_ the other part of him sighed. Al looked up from his musings, to see that they had stopped in front of the entryway to a large room. _It's too late._

The Fuhrer walked into the room, still holding Winry at sword-point. After a pause, Ed and Al followed him at a reasonably short distance. Al noticed out of the corner of the armor eyeholes that other people, mostly adolescents and children, were also being led—or rather, forced—into the room. Almost all were loudly resisting—cursing at their captors, screaming at the top of their lungs… it would be the perfect time to come up with a plan with Ed, but…

Al shot a glance at his brother, frightened. Ed's eyes were wild with repressed fear, worry, and rage. Would he be able to hold out? At this point, they could do nothing, not without getting Winry killed. They would just have to suffer through watching her being turned into a Doll. Or at least, that was the logical conclusion he had come to, but he wasn't a Contractor after all. He didn't think he'd be able to watch silently as Winry was put through that. Would he…?

"Al," whispered Ed, more frightened then Al had heard him in a long time. He flashed back to the day Ed had fallen in the river, when Mom had died, when Teacher had caught them fighting, and when Mom had died again. That had had to have been the last time Ed had ever really let on how scared he was, right after their failed human transmutation. It had been so long. Ed took a quick, panicked breath. "Al," he repeated, eyes wide, mouth already set in a premeditated grief. "What do we do?" His eyes begged Al for an answer, some way out of this situation, some way to save Winry.

It pained Al to have no answer. He wished he did, that he could somehow save them from this. But he couldn't. "I don't know," he whispered brokenly back to Ed. "I'm sorry." He looked down at the hated restraints on his hands that didn't allow him to do alchemy. "I'm sorry," he repeated in a voice so quiet the words were nearly inaudible among the screams of the other soon-to-be Dolls.

Ed reached out and awkwardly patted Al with his remaining hand, still in the mitten-like restraint. Al could hear the rattling of Ed shaking against the armor. "Should we just… let it…" Ed stopped, apparently unable to finish. He took a short breath, and continued. "Let's let them turn Winry into a Doll. I don't want them to kill her, no matter what," he asserted in a stronger voice closer to his normal self. But Al could see the pain in Ed's eyes. The decision was a costly one.

But it was the only one they could make. He nodded silently in agreement.

"It's time," Al heard the Fuhrer announce. He looked up, but the Fuhrer's expression wasn't triumphant, as he had expected. He was still smiling pleasantly with that grandfatherly expression on his face, but...to Al, he seemed far from pleased. "It's time, so where are the researchers?" he politely asked a nearby person in a lab coat, who trembled at being addressed by the Fuhrer.

"Th-they h-haven't come back yet, P-President F-Fuhrer, s-s-ir," the man answered shakily. "I'm the only one they left here. They're having s-some problems with the Contractor and the Doll—" the man gasped as the Fuhrer took the sword away from Winry's neck to point it at the man. Al could see Ed's face suddenly crease in concentration upon seeing the Fuhrer's reaction.

"B-but, there shouldn't be any problems!" the man hastily tried to assure the Fuhrer in a terrified voice, his eyes crossed as they focused on the sword being pointed at him. "We have several Contractors making sure the Dolls don't escape—"

"I assume you know how to use a sword," the Fuhrer interrupted calmly. Despite his stoic, even friendly attitude, his hands were trembling with some emotion, and the researcher seemed to notice. He looked more frightened than ever.

"Y-y-yes," the man stuttered. "I t-took fencing i-in the university a-and—"

"Good," interrupted the Fuhrer a tad shortly. He flipped the sword around in one swift toss in the air and handed the sword to the researcher. The man stared at it uncomprehendingly for a second before looking wildly up at the Fuhrer. "Keep that sword at this girl's neck at all times," the Fuhrer instructed the researcher as he pushed Winry towards him. "Kill her if those two," he pointed over his shoulder towards the Elrics. "Try to save her in any way. Don't hesitate. If they even look like their plotting something, do it." He started to walk away, drawing another sword as he did so.

"Wha…? B-but… Sir!" protested the researcher, apparently unable to contain his outburst despite his fear. "Where are you going?"

The Fuhrer looked back not towards him, but towards the Elrics. Al held back a surprised intake of breath at the transformation of the Fuhrer's face. It was furious, his expression promising danger to whoever had disrupted his plans. "To take care of the situation," the Fuhrer answered just as pleasantly as before as he slammed the door behind him.

The researcher winced, but quickly put the sword to Winry's neck. It was nearly silent now, the crowd of captured research subjects was watching their ordeal with interest, with the exception of a few crying children. They had all been herded to the middle of the room by a group of people Al could only assume were Contractors. He could see the speculative looks on some of the older captives' faces, wondering if this was their chance to escape.

"Damn him," Ed breathed. Al glanced in his direction to see, to his relief, that Ed was mostly back to normal. His eyes were focused on the problem of Winry's capture; the unexpected snag in the enemy's plans seemed to have given him hope. "He left Winry with a person scared to death of him. What do you think?" Ed asked Al quietly as his eyes flicked from Winry to the frightened researcher, who was watching them with bulging eyes. Winry seemed strangely composed; she seemed to have calmed down after the initial shock of having a sword put to her throat. Al could practically the wheels churning in her head as she too tried to think of a way out of their situation. "Do you think that guy has it in him to kill Winry? Should we chance it?"

"No," Al whispered back. "Better not, not without a plan. We need an opening."

"Shut up!" the researcher abruptly commanded them in a high voice. "No talking!" He held the sword closer to Winry's neck, and Ed and Al froze.

Suddenly, Winry started to writhe under the man's grasp. "What the…?" he exclaimed in shock. "Stop it! Stop it, or I'll— I'll kill you!"

"Let go of me!" she screamed at the man in a hysterical voice that clashed with the calm expression that had been on her face moments before. Al recognized that sound. She was faking it; when she was younger, she would always start bawling in that exact voice when she had wanted attention or to get Ed into trouble. But to outsiders, she probably sounded genuinely hysterical. "Let go of me!" She squirmed under the researcher's grasp seemingly unaware of the sword at her neck.

"Hey, just—stand still for a sec!" the researcher told her frantically. "If you don't stop, I really will—"

"No! Don't!" Winry screeched, her voice laced with that fake panic. "He said only to kill me if...if those two were plotting an attack!" The researcher froze and stared at her, his eyes wide in hesitation.

"Al," Ed whispered beneath the sound of Winry's next drawn-out, hysterical scream. "I'm gonna sneak up on him. Since I'm so…" he hesitated for a second. "short…I might be able to manage it—"

"Don't!" Al told him firmly. "Not yet—" He paused as he heard a noise above him. He glanced up cursorily, but there wasn't a solid roof— just a tangle of gigantic pipes. No one would be coming through those, right? But then, there was another noise, and Ed looked up as well.

"What—?" he started, brow furrowed. Before he could finish there was the screeching sound of metal on metal. The researcher jumped and looked around wildly and Winry stopped her screaming, listening intently to whatever the sound was as well.

"What's that? Who's there?" The researcher seemed to huddle in on himself as the screeching sound continued, heedless of his queries. "Stop it!"

Amazingly, the high-pitched squealing sound from above seemed to obey his command. Everyone in the room, the researcher, Ed, Al, Winry, all the Doll candidates, and even the Contractors guarding them, looked breathlessly up at the ceiling, wondering if the foreboding noise would return. But it didn't. Al could see Ed glance back down with raised eyebrows at the researcher, who was dripping with sweat and still staring, unmoving, at the ceiling. The researcher seemed to slowly thaw as he noticed everyone was now quietly staring at him or the ceiling. "W-well?" he said in a challenging sort of tone. "What are you d-doing, just standing there? Don't forget that you're guarding them!" he loudly told the Contractors who were all still staring upwards.

"Don't you recognize that?" one female Contractor murmured, not sparing a glance towards the researcher. She kept her gaze restlessly searching above her. "It sounded like…"

"A knife puncturing through metal," Ed breathed so quietly that only Al could hear him. Al threw him a sharp look and Ed elaborated. "Remember when we were in the train, and Lan Fan cut through the roof?"

"Oh," Al responded in a sudden realization. "So—do you think—?"

"Yeah," Ed said, excitement growing in his voice. "I think it's—"

There was a deafening shriek that echoed throughout the room, making it difficult to originate where the sound had come from. A large sheet of metal, ostensibly from a pipe, fell to the ground and landed on one of the Contractors, and two other Doll candidates. The room was thrown into confusion—the Doll candidates stampeded, and the Contractors did little to impede them. The Contractors all banded together, looking around for the new threat.

"Don't let them escape!" screamed the researcher, now in near hysteria himself. "What are you doing…? Go after them!"

The Contractors ignored him, and Al could practically feel their eyes sweeping over the room. Then… three human-sized objects dropped down from an overhead pipeline, and landed not far from where Winry was. Three people that Al recognized.

"Ling!" shouted Ed, a relieved smile growing on his face.

"Lan Fan, Fuu," barked Ling. "Take care of the guards. I'll go after the researcher."

Al could see the masked figures in black besides Ling charge towards the Contractors without hesitation, and Ling split off from them towards the researcher and Winry. The sound of a quick intake of breath emanated from within the armor. Neither Ling, Lan Fan, nor Fuu knew about the Contractors' abilities. They were skilled, but to take on that many alchemists at once… "Wait!" he yelled futilely. "Wait! Lan Fan, Fuu…!"

They ignored him, as he knew they would, and continued their charge. "Stop!" bellowed Ed in desperation as he too realized the danger those two were in. Before Ed could take another breath, Lan Fan and Fuu disappeared in a screen of flames.


	26. Premonitions

A/N: I know, this is really, really late, but a lot of stuff came up. I also may have to start updating more sporadically from now on, unfortunately. But hopefully that will mean I have more time to edit chapters and improve them. And no matter what, I _am_ going to finish this story, so no worries about that.

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

_Hei was alone. All alone in the empty white space where the Truth lay. He sat, head hanging limply down and leaning against his Gate. He refused to glance to his right; he knew what was there. He could feel it—the presence of his sister's Gate. A heavy feeling that spoke of an ancient, omnipresent knowledge pressed him down into the nonexistent ground. The feeling forcibly reminded him of how insignificant he was; how useless he had been when it had truly mattered. The Gate to his right was like that reminder had taken physical form._

_But it was still strangely comforting, although he would never admit it aloud. The Gate was also a reminder that his sister was still with him…sort of. The last bit of Bai that was left tied him to this very thing that had taken her away. The Gate was repugnant, yet he still felt an odd fondness for it. He could almost hear his Contract's distaste already—"You're so irrational!" It would probably have tried to command him to just choose one emotion or the other—having two such conflicting emotions made no sense, after all. _

_But he couldn't hear anything now, not even the Contract in his mind. The blank white smothered everything; even the sound of his own breathing, even, it felt like, his own consciousness. The white was so vast, so consuming, he felt like he was part of it—if he hadn't felt the steady movements of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled, he might have believed himself dead. He waited for some sound, any sound to break the spell. But nothing. The Gates hung silently in the space behind him, and he remained motionless, breathing in and out, in and out. Just existing. Nothing else._

_He couldn't bring himself to form any coherent thoughts in this mindless white, but the old terror started to slowly return to him, creeping through his limbs. His lungs started to expand and contract more rapidly and shallowly, and the stale air from the bland, white space circulated all the more throughout his body, paralyzing him. He could feel that breathtaking fear that had compelled him to protect his sister in the first place returning. _

_The fear of being alone. _

_His head leaned forward to touch his knees with a soft thump, his shoulders hunched slightly as that sly serpent called solitude constricted his breathing and whispered dire predictions into his ear through the silence. It was all he could hear, and he could not block it out. That was the grip loneliness held over him—it was a persistent feeling, always gnawing away at any hope he managed to gain. He couldn't deceive himself that he wasn't alone; he couldn't do anything about it. It was just an inescapable fact. If there was a hell, being all alone had to be it._

_He lifted his head to gaze blearily at the unnaturally white wasteland in front of him, as if trying to force himself to hope that someone would be there. No one was there._

_All alone._

"_Hei." A voice shattered the silence and broke the spell. His eyes flew open wide, hearing a familiar voice call his name. His head turned frantically, carefully scanning his surroundings. Nothing. _

"_Yin." His voice emanated hoarsely from him in a strange, echoing entreaty. The whiteness dampened his voice, but surely she must have heard him. Maybe she was hidden somewhere in this white void that he was in. Or maybe he was just imagining her voice, her existence? His insides clenched automatically at the thought. _

"_Yin, where are you?" He couldn't keep a trace of fear from entering his voice._

"_I'm here." His eyes kept searching blindly through the whiteness, but there was nothing_.

"_Yin…please," he said, his voice becoming almost imploring. The empty plainness of the void he was in suffocated him. "Where are you?"_

"_I'm here," Yin's voice said again. He turned around towards the voice. It was coming from behind him, but… there was only him and the two Gates in this empty space. _

_He had to be just imagining Yin's voice. __"Don't…leave me alone,"__ he whispered to himself defeatedly. No one heard him. There was no one else._

_ "Hei."_ Yin's voice, the voice that had been coming from the nothingness grew so concrete that it pulled him away from the scene, which vanished, just like that.

Hei squinted, his eyes still blinded by that empty whiteness. It was all he could see for a second, but he blinked, and slowly the image of a ceiling stippled with stains came into focus. _Ah. A nightmare. _He stared at the ceiling for a moment more before his eyes automatically swiveled around, searching for a more familiar object that he would recognize. A chair with one arm broken off, splinters sticking haphazardly out, a couch with stuffing coming out a long rip on the seat cushion…it wasn't familiar. He maintained his current relaxed position—it was very possible that he was still in hostile territory, and that he would have to take an enemy by surprise. Had he been captured? He tried to remember, but his memories seemed so far away in his half-asleep state…

"Hei." He started slightly, and his head turned to look to his right.

"Yin," he breathed. So at least they hadn't been separated. "What happened? Where are we?"

Yin's grip on his hand tightened. "It's…okay."

But something in her tone seemed strange despite the reassurance. "Yin, what is it? Were we captured?"

"That's…not it." He waited impatiently as she tried to slowly form the words. "It's…okay." She looked down, and her grip on his hand tightened further, her nails digging faint, half-moon crescents into his hand. "Not alone."

Hei could feel his face contorting into an expression of surprise. "What?"

Yin just shook her head slightly. He vaguely wondered if he had said something in his dream, and if she had heard it. But it wasn't important at the moment. "Yin. What happened?"

Yin lifted her head, and resumed her usual deadpan expression. "Parcel brought us out of the underground place," she explained. The strange timbre in her voice had disappeared as well. "You were hurt. Your foot. "

His foot? He remembered… that Xingese Contractor had stabbed him in the same foot that the Lieutenant had shot. But he couldn't feel a trace of a wound. It wasn't even hurting at all. Had they given him pain medicine? He tentatively flexed it, but it felt normal. "What's going on…?" he wondered for what felt the umpteenth time.

"That's what I'd like to know," a voice said behind him. Hei sat up sharply and turned to see November 11 walking into the room with a slight frown on his face. He looked different from when Hei had seen him last, and it took him a second to identify what the change was. November 11's eyes and facial expression, which had somehow softened since Hei had seen him in Ishbal, had regained that cold, hard quality they had held in Ishbal. As November 11 continued to talk, Hei scrutinized him, trying to find a reason for the change. "We were losing, and then a human-shaped observation specter appeared. All of a sudden, all the Contractors attacking us killed themselves using their Contracts."

Hei stared at him, memories flooding back to him. "The specter touched my foot," he muttered quietly to himself, and looked down speculatively at his foot, which was wearing a shoe that was considerably torn up…yet, impossibly, the foot seemed fine. He swung his feet over to face November 11, and the old spring mattress below him squeaked. "Now it's…"

"Healed," finished November 11, his frown deepening. "You know something. Parcel and I saved you; time for you to return the favor. What happened?"

"Wait… what about Mao?"

"We didn't get to him in time," November 11 said impatiently. "Who did that specter belong to?"

"What happened to Mao?" Hei demanded heatedly as he stood up.

"I wouldn't know, would I?" November 11 responded, his voice only growing icier with each word he spoke. "I told you, we had to leave. There were too many. Now, tell me. Who did that humanoid specter belong to?"

"Humanoid?" Hei couldn't help repeating softly. He barely stopped himself from shooting a glance at Yin, but he could see Yin raise her head out of the corner of his eye, and a rare expression of confusion flashed across her face for the briefest of seconds. He had seen the specter himself but…

"Yes. As I said," November 11 replied with absolutely no trace of that fake humor or politeness in his voice. "A human-shaped specter appeared, and all the Contractors opposing us committed suicide shortly thereafter."

Hei slowly shook his head. It couldn't have been…it couldn't have been Yin's specter. She wasn't a murderer; there wasn't any way it could be hers. "I don't know who it belonged to."

"You're lying."

Hei returned November 11's glare coolly.

"Tell me." November said, his voice lowering dangerously.

"Are you trying to protect your Doll?" Parcel asked as she stuck her head out from the door behind November 11. "There's no need; if it was her who killed them like I thought, then she saved us." November 11's eyes narrowed.

Hei shook his head once more. "It couldn't have been."

"Why not?"

Hei took a slow breath, thinking it over. "A specter can't kill. All it is is a disembodied soul that a Doll can see with. It couldn't have been her."

Yin shifted by his side, but when he tilted his head to observe her reaction to his assessment, her face was blank.

"Specters don't take on a human form either," November 11 said tersely, bringing his attention back to the conversation. "Hers is different. If you don't remember I've already seen her specter, from when you first arrived in the prison. It must be hers."

"Why do you want to know?"

"That doesn't matter."

Hei examined him for a moment before asking in a softer tone than before. "Someone died?"

November 11 blinked, surprise creeping past the cold fury on his face. "Pardon me?"

Hei just kept looking at him.

Parcel glanced tentatively towards November 11. His short-lived surprise was once again replaced by that frigid rage. "April's dead," he finally said shortly. _April, his partner in Ishbal._ "She drowned herself using her own Contract."

"And you think Yin did it," Hei finished for him. A soft, ethereal, electric-blue glow slowly began to emanate from him. Pencil-thin sparks danced and flashed between the fingers of his gloved hand.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" Parcel shouted as she ran to put herself between November 11 and Hei. "There's no reason to get all defensive!" she told Hei. She pointed a finger at November 11. "He might be getting a bit emotional, but there's no way that he'd try to get vengeance for April. She was ready to kill him! Attacking you'd be just stupid, and we Contractors aren't allowed to be idiots."

"Actually, I would quite like to be, as you say, idiotic at the moment." November 11 told Parcel, not taking his eyes off of Hei for a moment. Hei tensed and the alchemical glow grew in intensity. November 11 watched him calmly while Parcel gaped, trying to keep up with the rapidly deteriorating situation. "Fortunately for you, I haven't gained quite enough control to act on my own. My Contract won't allow it." He sighed, his frown clearing. "You can relax. I won't do anything. I can't." After a tense moment, the glow surrounding Hei like a full-body halo faded.

Parcel rounded on November 11, and her bear ears flopped uselessly onto her back. "You really are an idiot! To think of even acting on emotions like that…!"

A forced, ironic smile crept onto November 11's face as he tore his gaze away from Hei. "I suppose I can say the same to you. You pretty much gave us away to the scientists after all." He sighed again. "It is quite strange though. Before, I never would have thought that any of my colleagues had left the slightest impression on me…"

Colleagues… Hei looked up sharply as the word reminded him of the situation under Central. Ed and Al, two human sacrifices, were alone, and at the mercy of the government. He was uninjured now. This would be his only chance, while the researchers were distracted, if he wanted to kill the brothers... or maybe he even would be able to help them escape. "I want to go back to the lab."

Parcel, Yin, and November 11 observed him stoically for a moment before Parcel finally spoke up. "I changed my mind. You're an even bigger idiot than him." Hei's lips twitched upward into a small smile.

"The Elric brothers," Yin muttered.

Hei nodded in response to her statement. "I need to help them escape. They're more dangerous in the hands of the government than you realize."

"And you want us to put ourselves in danger again to bring you back?" November 11 guessed. That frigidity was stronger than ever in his voice, and although Hei recognized that November 11 had been telling the truth when he had said his Contract wouldn't allow him to attack Yin, he also knew that their brief alliance was over.

"No. I can get in by my—"

"C'mon!" Parcel interrupted in exasperation. "Even you should know that's practically impossible. You can't break in there by yourself and still be unnoticed."

"And I can't leave those two in the hands of the government," Hei responded calmly. "It's far worth the risk."

"Is it…?" Parcel murmured to herself. She paced back and forth; her brow furrowed to an almost comical extent as she muttered to herself. Suddenly, she groaned in frustration as she retrieved her bear ears from where they had fallen against her back, and returned them to their former position on top of her head. "Remind me to give Champ a good talking-to when I come back. This whole irrationality thing is gonna get me killed."

* * *

"Lan Fan! Fuu! Stop!" Ed yelled right before a young, female Contractor shone momentarily with a surreal glow, and a fireball barreled straight towards the charging bodyguards. The fireball hit something, he couldn't see what, and everything in the immediate vicinity was engulfed in heat and roaring flames. Ed shielded his eyes—he could see the bright light of the explosion through his eyelids, and he felt like his skin was crinkling up from the heat. It was impossible to see if anyone had survived the blast.

"Did they…?" he whispered to himself, barely able to hear himself over the sound of the flames consuming everything nearby. He couldn't be sure, but it didn't look good.

"Get away!" they heard over the gluttonous flames the scream of the researcher holding Winry hostage behind them. Ed's attention was immediately averted from the mounting flames before him when he saw that Ling was dashing towards the researcher, heedless of the danger his guards were in or the fact that the researcher was growing increasingly unstable, his eyes wild. His blade dug into the side of Winry's neck, and blood trickled down in a thin stream. "Get away, or I'll kill her!"

Ed turned and sprinted towards the researcher after Ling upon hearing the man's assertion. "Ed, wait!" he heard Al shout behind him, but he couldn't. Winry was in more danger than ever before; he had to try to save her before the researcher snapped and killed her, right then and there. He heard the clanking of Al's armor, but weirdly enough, it was heading away from him and from Winry. He didn't ponder Al's strange action for long however, as the researcher shrilled another high scream again.

"I'll kill her!" the researcher screeched, his voice hitting his highest pitch yet. Ed's heart beat irregularly against his chest as he sprinted towards the researcher. He wouldn't get there in time. The researcher would do it before he could stop Ling's charge, before he could do anything. He stumbled over his feet as his foot smashed into a half-buried pipe, but threw himself off the ground as quick as he could towards Winry. He _had_ to make it in time.

"Go ahead," Ed heard Ling say coldly. Ling was only a couple of feet away from Winry now. "I don't know her. I don't care." Ed's chest constricted at the words. They sounded like a death sentence. _Winry!_

The researcher paused as he processed Ling's statement, his face frozen in indecision. Suddenly, he exhaled in a strange sort of grunt and looked down towards his midsection, which had Ling's sword deeply embedded right below the ribs. Blood spattered onto the floor, and the researcher looked up at Ling, eyes round in fear. He opened his mouth, uttered a gurgled, feeble protest as blood dribbled from his mouth, and fell to his knees. The sword the researcher had been holding at Winry's neck clattered to the floor. She kicked it away, and shaking, moved hesitantly to kneel by the man's side. Ling approached the man as well, and slowly pulled the sword out of him with a sound that made Winry squeeze her eyes shut. But Ed, who had nearly approached them, could see the man mouthing wordless screams. "I was lying," Ling told the fatally wounded man seriously as he wiped down the sword before he turned to smile playfully at Winry. "She's my future Empress. Of course I won't let her die."

Those words were the last straw, and Ed felt his temper completely snap. "You!" he bellowed. He found himself nearly inarticulate in his rage. "Just! What! Do you think you were doing! You could've gotten her killed!" He reached Ling, and punched him with his automail hand as hard as he could. Ling flew several feet before sprawling on the ground with a grunt of pain. He lay flat on his back for a moment while Ed panted in fury above him. "You!" Ed repeated, pointing a finger shaking in fury at Ling. "Don't gamble with her life again! You've already done that with your bodyguards, but Winry's not some tool!" The punch and the lecture wasn't enough to express the severity of Ling's actions, but it would have to do for now. He strode over to Winry, who looked up at him tearily from her position by the man's side. He had intended to pull her away from Ling, that bastard who had just risked her life, but as usual, her tears disarmed him completely. "Uh…Winry?"

"He's dead," she whispered, not looking at the researcher below her. Ed squinted, trying to see her expression, but the smoke was growing thicker now, and he couldn't see her well.

"He tried to kill you," Ed reminded her bracingly. He silently admitted to himself that the researcher's manner of death had chilled him as well.

"He's dead. Just like Mr. Hughes." Ed froze. Winry sniffled and glared at him through her tears. "So you knew about that! Why…why didn't you say anything?"

"I…I didn't…"

"I'm sorry to break up the drama," Ling broke in loudly. "But we've got a bigger problem right now." Ed glowered in Ling's direction to see he had sat up, cradling his jaw and flexing it experimentally to see if it was broken. When he was certain that it was not, he slowly stood up, and raised his eyebrows at Ed. "That's how you reward me for saving her? Punching me?" Ling asked, sounding annoyed as he spit out blood out of the side of his mouth and wiped his bloody lip.

"You deserved it," Ed snarled. That sneaking, lying, cold-blooded prince _did_ deserve it.

"You might not agree after I save your brother's life too," Ling claimed cockily as he stood up and winced after he tried to smirk at Ed. "Ow…"

"Al…! I completely forgot!" He looked towards the flames. Al was nowhere in sight. "Oh no…" He whipped around towards Winry. "Stay here," he told her in a low voice. And for once, she nodded meekly. His eyebrows pulled together at her uncharacteristic obedience, _she must be really scared_, but after a slight hesitation, he raced towards the flames. "Al! Where are you?"

"Ed!" came a faint yell at the far edge of the flames.

"I'm coming!" Ed shouted to his brother's barely visible form obscured by the opaque smoke.

"Aaah!" he heard Al yell suddenly. Ed's eyes widened and he sprinted into the swirling cloud of dense smoke. "Al?" he yelled. "Al where are—?" his voice was suddenly muffled as a plate of burning metal covered his mouth. He struggled for a moment, but stopped as he recognized it as part of Al's arm. "Al?" he coughed. "W-What happened? And let go, you're burning up!" Al relinquished him immediately.

"My legs got smashed. I can't move."

"Hang on, I'll get you out of here—"

"No, don't! I'm too big!"

"I'm not going to just leave you!" Ed coughed a rattling cough again, and doubled over, trying to purge his lungs of the smoke.

"Must you argue so loudly?" a voice interrupted their conversation. Ed looked up in panic too see another Xingese Contractor emerge from the smoke, looking down at them with a bored expression. "Your irrationality is giving me a headache." He took out a knife, and Ed tensed, preparing to try to block a stab of some sort. But strangely, the man directed the knife towards his wrist, and cut it with one fluid motion. Blood spurted at Ed's head, but he automatically moved out of the way.

"What are you doing?" Ed yelled hoarsely at the Contractor. He shook his head to clear it and coughed a hacking cough again. "You'll kill yourself!" He couldn't stop himself from flicking a glance at the bloodied ground before him visible through the swirling curlicues of smoke.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about yourself, rather than the enemy?" the man asked him in a nonchalant voice. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, holes several inches deep appeared in the ground where his blood had been previously. Ed stared. "It's ironic isn't it? My payment is to bleed, and I kill with my own blood. It seems, for me at least, bloodshed really does only lead to more bloodshed."

"Ed, get out of here, now!" Al commanded him in a panic, but Ed stood there blankly for a second. _Blood? And alchemy…?_ A smile slowly crept over his face. He had an idea. "Ed, I said—!" Alphonse's order cut off with a gasp as Ed suddenly rammed his only flesh arm into one of the spikes on the Al's armored shoulder.

"Grghh!" Ed grunted in pain, and his eyes squeezed tightly shut for a moment, before he opened one to watch the Contractor warily. He gave the man a shaky grin. "Thanks for giving me a great idea," he wheezed.

"Ed, have you gone insane?" Al yelled at him. "You're going to have no arms left if you're not careful!"

"I'd have to agree with him," the Contractor said as he approached, an eyebrow raised. "I don't understand humans at all. Unlike me, you have no reason to injure yourself." The man raised his sliced wrist, blood streaming from the shallow wound, and prepared to fling his blood in the brothers' direction. "But I suppose you'd have died anyways."

"No one'll die today," Ed said through clenched teeth as he yanked his arm back from the spike. The flow of blood increased as it splattered onto the ground. "And especially not us." Ed's feet suddenly moved in a rapid motion, painting a transmutation circle in blood onto the floor. The Contractor's eyes widened, but Ed and Al didn't see the rest of his reaction because in the next second a wall appeared, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, that separated the room into two and cut off most of the Contractors and the fire from Ed, Al, Winry, and Ling.

"Ed! You okay?" asked Al.

"Yeah," Ed grunted. "Losing… a lot of blood. Speaking of which…" He quickly drew two more bloody circles with his feet, and in two flashes of light, Al's legs were repaired, and his hand restraints decomposed. "There…" Ed sighed. Al quickly stood up and dragged Ed away from the thick smoke towards the cleaner air closer to the door.

"That was really, _really, _stupid you know," Al told him admonishingly as he dragged him.

Ed's lips quirked up. "That shouldn't be a surprise."

There was the clash of metal on metal. It seemed that one lone Contractor, who was fighting Ling, was trapped on their side. But he had been distracted for a second by the approach of the brothers—long enough to be fatally wounded by Ling. Ling looked up, saw the wall, and with barely a second to comprehend what he had seen, barreled towards them in a rage.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ling bellowed, looking more enraged than Ed had ever seen him.

"Saving our asses," Ed replied hoarsely before spasming into a coughing fit that only spattered his blood further over the ground. The smoke was still thick, even with the wall separating them from most of the fire. He could see Winry start to run over from where she had been standing, stock-still, watching him and Al fight.

"_Ours?_" repeated Ling scathingly, gesturing towards the wall Ed had created. "Lan Fan and Fuu!" Ed's heart immediately sank. He had forgotten about Ling's bodyguards. "What about them? Take the wall down right now!"

"Ling," Ed started hesitantly. "They're probably not…"

"No!" Ling stated fiercely. "They're…!"

"Just fine," finished Al smugly. There was a pause.

"…Huh?" Ed managed to get out.

"Young master! We are unharmed! Do not despair!" came the voice of Fuu from inside Al's armor.

Ed broke into a relieved grin. "Well, well, little brother. So that's what you were doing when I was rescuing Winry."

"Actually, I think I did that," Ling corrected him absentmindedly as he hurried up to Al and started to try to pry off the armor's front plate. Ed snarled feebly in response.

"Ed!" yelled Winry as she hurried towards them. "We need to get out of here! There's too much smoke! What…" she slowed down and stared at Ed. "You're bleeding."

"Huh? Oh…yeah."

"Don't 'oh yeah' me, Edward Elric," Winry told him severely, an undercurrent of fear still in her voice. She started tearing off the lower part of her shirt. "That's a serious wound." She began wrapping the cloth around the injury.

"Wow, you guys are pretty cramped, huh?" Ling's voice emanated happily from next to Al's armor.

"It was only meant for one person, after all," Al interjected.

"Master!" Lan Fan gasped. "Were you injured?"

"Ed punched me," Ling mentioned offhandedly. Lan Fan shot daggers at Ed with her eyes. He was sure real knives would follow sometime later; hopefully not in the near future. "But he and Al helped to save you, so I'll let it slide."

"Can we please get out of here?" Winry requested nervously, shooting a glance at the wall. Right on cue, it shivered from the impact of an explosion on the other side.

"Uh…right." Al said. "Let's go."

"Couldn't we have just kept the girl in your armor, Al?" Ed protested grumpily as he started forward. "I swear, she's going to kill me in my sleep some—" the world suddenly spun, and he collapsed. "Wha…?"

"Ed!"

"I _told_ you!" Winry scolded him as she bent down and propped him up so that Al could pick him up. "That wound's serious! You've lost a lot of blood, so don't move much, okay?"

"Yeah, no more stabbing yourself, Ed," Al warned. "You were lecturing _me_ about killing myself, but there you go again, hurting yourself and being a stupid hypocrite. Stupid brother."

Ed groaned. "Guess I…can't respond to…that."

Al stared at him for a moment before sighing and taking pity on him. "Geez…Let's just get out of here." He walked carefully into the hall, the others following him like some strange sort of parade.

"Hey," Ed asked suddenly, in a wheezy, quieter-than-normal voice. "Can someone tell me how the insanely violent girl and the old man are still alive? How did they survive in the first blast?"

"We hid," Lan Fan told him shortly. Her voice was hoarser than normal as well, and Ed wondered how long she had been inhaling smoke in that cramped space inside Al's armor.

"Behind what?" Al asked, curious as well.

"We're not stupid enough to barge into someplace like this without a plan," Ling told him in a voice, that to Ed, sounded annoyingly superior. As if Ling knew that he and Al had barged in on the offensive without a cohesive plan. It only aggravated him further that that was indeed the case. "We spent the past day spying on the researcher's conversations from the ventilation shafts, and collecting intel about where the researchers would be, and how to get there. Too bad we didn't get to capture a scientist…I was sure there would be more than just one."

"But what about that flame?" Ed pressed in his scratchy voice.

"Don't you think our entrance was unnecessarily showy? There was a reason for attracting all that attention instead of doing a surprise attack. We wanted to use that section of the pipe that we cut through to get down here as a shield against possible attacks."

"A shield?" Ed repeated slowly. His were starting to slur. "They hid behind that?"

"Stop talking, Ed," Winry scolded him as they walked further into the labyrinth with no destination but to get as far away from the lab as possible. "Just save your energy."

Ed gave a weak equivalent of a growl. "Can you two…just give me a break…for a second?"

Winry gave him a wobbly smile. "Not when you almost killed yourself."

"Yeah, Ed," chorused Ling. Ed shot him a weak glare.

"Some thanks," Ed grouched. "I saved you guys, and all I've gotten is a lecture."

Ling laughed. "Isn't that what friends are for?"

"Who said I was your friend, you free-loader?"

If Al could have had a face, he would have smiled. Ed was seriously injured, and they were still trapped in this underground maze. But they were free of their restraints, he could use alchemy again, no one had been turned into a Doll, and best of all…they were alive. And together.

And as long as that was true, it felt like they all had a decent chance of escaping here alive.


	27. Moonlight Sonata

A/N: This is kind of an interlude chapter, but at least I finally got to do Yin's point of view. :) Let me know if it seemed out of character or anything.

Also, the flashback in this chapter takes place around the same time that Chapter 13 was in.

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

It was quiet, Yin noted to herself as she sat, completely still on a cushy armchair in the apartment that she and Hei had escaped to after the trouble under Central. It wasn't the comforting sort of silence she and Hei had often shared when they were on their own—it reeked of Hei's absence. The two types of silence were completely distinct in Yin's mind. With Hei and without Hei. Good and bad.

_Stay here, Yin. It's going to be dangerous, _Hei had told her. She had agreed, as she knew she must. If she went with Hei, she would just get in the way. She knew that, but…

The sound of Hei's body hitting the floor with a dull thud, the image of Hei's surprised-looking, bleeding corpse, seen through the watery, rippling eyes of her specter standing in a nearby puddle of spilled blood, swam to the forefront of her mind. Yin gripped the grimy folds of her dress, which hung loosely over her knees, in support. The dried mud from the forest that still caked the dress in odd patches crumbled away as the fabric balled up in her hands.

She didn't like it. Seeing Hei like that had been…something bad. Very bad. Bad was an understatement to the extreme, but she was unable to define it more specifically. Emotions were still so hard to name, to be able to recognize those quick flashes that, most of the time, were gone before she could realize that she'd felt them. It was slow, hard work, trying to relearn what most humans seemed to be able to do naturally. But even she could recognize that that emotion, the one she had felt upon seeing Hei's death, was different. The way that her insides seemed to claw away at her and that terrible emptiness consumed her… It was as if her emotions were physically attacking her. She never wanted to experience that again.

_You will, though. He's going to leave you eventually,_ something inside Yin suddenly whispered insidiously. _ And he'll be right to. He's going to get killed if he keeps trying to protect you._

She ignored the voice the best she could. There was always a kernel of truth at the core of what the voice said, and it was enough to make her doubt herself. Even now, she could feel the old insecurity resurrecting itself, could remember the scientists talking to each other as she listened in the background, completely ignored. The words she had grown to accept as truth. _I can't believe this…What did we do wrong? All the calculations were right, I'm sure of it, but they can't do anything! They can't eat or move by themselves—I'd be surprised if they can think coherent thoughts. They're worthless, and we'll be punished…_Yin sat completely still as the brutally clear memory coursed throughout her mind. Oddly enough, Dr. Schroeder's response to the researcher had…not exactly heartened her, but given her a sense that she had had at least some limited purpose. _Oh, don't worry. The data we gathered will help in the next experiment._ But her reason for being was over and done: the data was collected and there was no more need for her or the other Dolls. She had continued to follow orders automatically, like an animated corpse. And then, Hei had come…

_You rely on him so much, but do you think he's invincible?_ The voice whispered to her again._ He's been badly injured twice in the past couple of days. Both on account of you. How long do you think he'll stand for that?_

Yin's hands clenched slightly, struggling to fight off the voice's influence on her thoughts. The voice had started months and months ago as the merest whisper, a slight brush of another's conscience onto her own, easily ignored. But it had grown exponentially, especially lately, and now the voice's whisper was like a shout she could not block, could not hide from. Yin shuddered internally as she felt the voice smirk as it listened to her thoughts. Yet…she had brought it upon herself. She knew exactly why she had the voice constantly in her mind now, what had happened to bring it there. Everything, absolutely everything, had a price. And especially something as vital, as integral, to a personality as free will.

Before, back in lab and in Ishbal, she would have been prepared to pay any price, anything at all, to make the deal with the Gate and have her free will and emotions returned to her. The problem was being able to make the choice to start the trade—as the scientists had always said, Dolls were tools with no free will. She hadn't thought herself even capable of making the choice, paying the price, until Hei had come along and changed everything. _You're still a person. Don't listen to what the researchers tell you._ Hei's statement, that insinuation that the researchers were wrong, that she was wrong…was strange. It hadn't made her happy, or given her hope—she hadn't been able to experience emotions back then, after all. It just informed her that there was a possibility, however slight, that she could regain what she had lost, that she may someday have a purpose once more. And so she had waited. And as a result, she had eventually been able to do it, and had completed the trade.

_And look where that's gotten you, _the voice said snidely.

Yin found she was able to disregard this particular taunt. Despite the price she had paid, something far more costly than simply hearing a voice in her head, everything was significantly improved from before. She thought of Hei, and a strange, light feeling expanded within her that would have been impossible to experience only a few years ago.

The voice in her head cackled, _Aren't you sentimental? You're too soft for your own good. Like that one time…remember when it all started?_

Yin did. She remembered.

* * *

_Moonlight_ _streamed through the windows; the cool, healing light wrapped around her. In the past, Yin had learned that the moonlight was just a reflection of sunlight, and maybe that was why she could somehow feel it. But it wasn't the same. Moonlight had made light tangible, something she could understand, without being harsh and burning like the sunlight. The moon had brought light into her darkness, even if she couldn't see it._

_It had been a full moon just like this, with the moonbeams blanketing the world with their light, when her mother had died. There had been sounds as well—the long, blaring honk of the car, the incomprehensible shout of the driver before he had driven off. And then silence as she had sat blindly by the side of the road, not knowing what had happened. Here, there was that same silence, that same moonlight enveloping everything. It pulled at other long buried memories as well: of moonlit nights by the piano, of twirling with abandon under the night sky until she fell, laughing, into the grass as her the sound of her parents' footsteps hurried towards her to check if she was okay. Yin remembered the memories as if viewing the memories of another person, another life. She couldn't comprehend why she had laughed, or smiled, or cried. The child she remembered being so long ago simply was no longer her._

_But she wasn't the only one who had been so drastically changed._

_She could hear Hei ahead of her, his footsteps echoing off the stone floor and occasionally muffled by a carpet. His hand led her through the hallways of the Armstrong mansion, carefully ensuring that she wouldn't bump into anything. Hei still took care of her even after becoming a Contractor. She didn't know why; she didn't understand. He had not only spared her life after Ishbal but had treated her…differently from what she would expect of a Contractor. Almost as if she was a normal human. It was very strange. Just like now—he had just told her about a piano in the Armstrong house, and was leading her to it with no recompense for himself. He knew why she needed to play it, and there would be no benefit for him at all. There was no use wondering about it, but it was strange nonetheless._

_Suddenly, Hei stopped, and Yin followed suit. She stood, feeling a cool breeze from an open window in the room, hearing it whistle slightly as it passed. Had Hei really taken her to the piano? And would it help? She had the faintest expectation—a hope?—that if she played the piano, somehow, playing an emotional song would return those long-lost emotions to her. It was a long shot, but she _needed _to play, to try to feel _something_. If she didn't, if she ended up not being able to feel emotions or make her own decisions the rest of her life…she was sure she would eventually go insane, if that was possible for a Doll. It was like a physical necessity was being unfulfilled, and her dearth of emotions was slowly suffocating her. Perhaps that was why she was allowed to wish for the return her emotions and free will in the first place…perhaps it was allowed because it was a psychological need, not an emotional want nor a conscious decision._

_Hei led her forward, both of their feet thudding gently against what sounded like a wooden floor, and when he stopped she reached out until her fingertips brushed against soft leather. It had to be a place to sit, she thought, from how low it was. A piano bench. She stood still for a moment; no one had ordered her to move. But Hei had told her of the piano and had said, "This way." It was an implied order to go to the piano. Her muscles moved her forward of their own volition, and she approached the bench slowly. She lowered herself onto the seat, sinking slightly into the smooth leather. It was a high quality piano bench, Yin observed as she her hands explored the piano bench, her fingers pressed slightly into the material. _

_Hei let go of her right hand, and it dangled limply by her side for a moment. But she still didn't know if she had followed his implied order to go to the piano, so her hand rose in front of her. Her fingers encountered wood, and though the fingernail of her right index finger hit the wood first, it didn't give way. Hardwood, her memories from the past told her. This was an expensive, hardwood piano. High quality yet again…would having a better piano increase her chances of feeling emotional after playing a song? She racked her memories, but came up with nothing. She would just have to try anyway._

_She lifted her hands slightly from where they lay on the wood to place them above the keys. Suddenly, all her muscles locked, and she sat, frozen in place, unable to make a move. She couldn't make the decision. Nothing Hei had said or did had even remotely implied that he wanted her to play the piano—just that he had wanted her to go to it. In any case, she had no orders, and she couldn't play._

_A cool breeze again blew in from the open window, chilling her, as if to accentuate the fact that she was completely frozen. Her hands were already beginning to cramp up, and her muscles were uncomfortably tense, but she gave no outward sign of her discomfort. She couldn't make the decision to move her facial muscles. She sat in silence, unable to move, to make a sound. Not even to move her finger just a few centimeters down, to press against a key and hear just one note of music. _

_She had failed, then, she thought calmly. Perhaps it was because she was a Doll that her attempts to regain her humanity always failed—Dolls deserved nothing, according to the researchers. Perhaps it was them, and not Hei who were correct. If that was the case…_

"_Go on Yin," Hei's voice said, abruptly shattering both the silence and her thoughts. "Play."_

_Her muscles suddenly unlocked at the order, and Yin obliged as her fingers settled with relief into the all-too-familiar D__b__ major chord. The sound echoed throughout the room, and Yin felt her eyes, ever so slightly, widen in response. Her memories told her that it was a pure, in-tune sound, and the acoustics in the room were perfect._

_She repeated the chord, and then again and again, speeding up slightly each time as her teacher had taught her. A memory bubbled to the surface as her fingers played the familiar sequence of chords._

"No, no, Kirsi, not like that," her piano teacher chastised her as she had started the piece she had been practicing for weeks. He leaned over her and played a chord softly, then repeated the notes a little faster each time with a slight crescendo, before slowing down with a decrescendo. "You need to give the notes some life. Doesn't this—" he repeated the phrase again. "–sound different than what you were playing before? Do you feel anything when you hear it played like that?"

"Yeah. Bored," she sighed in exasperation as she leaned backwards, kicking her feet back and forth from where they dangled under the piano bench. Her hands dug into the bench, and she felt the frustration that had been building up for nearly a month boil over at his reprimand. "I hate this piece! I'm playing it right, but you don't like it no matter what I do! Anyway, that part doesn't matter; it's just playing the same dumb note over and over."

He sighed, sounding disappointed. "I suppose you're not old enough for this yet."

"I am!" she protested. "This isn't hard at all, and you still make me do it over and over!"

"Yes, it's not technically difficult," he allowed. "And it is, of course, important for you to be able to play more challenging pieces. But you're missing the point—music doesn't mean anything at all if you just play it mindlessly. Even this—" he played the same repeating chords yet again "—means more than the hardest piece in the world if I make it to be."

She wrestled with her irritation, but it won and she turned her head away with a 'humph!' "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Kirsi," her teacher told her good-naturedly. She grunted uncommitedly in response. "Do you know why no one would go to a concert where a machine played music? Nowadays, they're certainly able to play everything more accurately than any human is physically able."

She hesitated a moment and then shook her head grumpily.

"A computer could technically play everything correctly, but what really makes the music come alive for the audience is you, Kirsi." She blinked. "Everything, a slightly overdone crescendo in a spot you feel is particularly powerful, a retardando where you feel it is apt…everything about your emotions, your humanity, Kirsi, comes out in your interpretation of the music. Don't forget that."

_She hadn't forgotten. Except now, she was playing so that she could regain that humanity. She reached farther back into her memories, allowing her fingers to translate the memory fragments into song for her._

"Kirsi," her mother's voice, barely holding back sobs, echoed out of the depths of her memory. "Papa wouldn't have wanted you to be sad. Come now Kirsi, don't cry. Don't cry." She cried anyways as her mother rocked her back in forth. Her father was dead. He was gone.

_Another memory dredged up from the back of her mind as her fingers flew over the keys as if they were living things themselves. _

She walked softly from her room out into the hall, her hand trailing along the wall. It was late, and she had been sound asleep, but a nightmare had woken her up. She shuddered, taking her hand away from the wall to hug herself as she remembered it—she had been frozen, unable to move as unseen monsters devoured her mother. It probably had come from those horror stories her classmates had whispered to her before her piano teacher, her mother, and she had left for this strange new country. There were mutants, dangerous monsters in Amestris, they had said. She didn't believe them, she told herself firmly. But it wouldn't hurt to check if her mother was alright…

She hurried to her mother's room, but was stopped by a sound. What was it…? She listened harder. Kissing? She stood there a moment, trying to comprehend what the sound meant. Then she realized, and before she could think twice she was darting blindly away from the room, down the hall. She heard her piano teacher and her mother both call 'Kirsi?' in guilty, frightened voices after her, and she knew, she knew. Her eyes welled up in tears. _Papa._ She rushed out of the house, trying to escape them, going across the street to hide in the woods, stumbling over sticks and rocks jutting out of the path, she was barely aware that she had reached the road until she felt a push from behind. It wasn't until her piano teacher had found them minutes later that she had found out that her mother had died. She, Kirsi, had run out into the road, and her mother had pushed her out of the way of an incoming car. It was all her fault. It wasn't a monster she should have worried about killing her mother, but herself_._

_Yin's fingers flew over the piano keys, the memories rushing out, more and more vivid with each note. Lust had found her not long after, all alone, crying in an alley on the way back home from getting groceries. Easy pickings. She had been brought back to Central, and had never seen her home again. They had taken away her name and given her the name Yin. She remembered nights alone in the cell, shivering and crying, sure it was all a nightmare. And then…Yin's fingers executed a slow, soft scale before pausing on the final note for a moment. And then there had been nothing. What was there to play of? She struggled to find something, but she couldn't. Her memories as a Doll were bland, lacking any quality she could translate into music. There was no momentous decisions to play of, no emotions._

_She heard a shift behind her in the slight pause that she assumed was Hei. The person who had ordered her to play in the first place. Her head lifted fractionally—that was it. Hei. She might not be able to play about herself, __but she could play about what she had seen Hei experience._

_She began again, struggling to make the dull, lifeless memories of Hei, seen through her dead eyes as a Doll, into music. Hei, ensuring that she was brought to safety from the train car full of dead Dolls, despite the fact that she would only hinder him. Hei, telling her that the scientists were wrong, and that she was human just like everyone else. Hei, doubled over in an alleyway he had fled to after the first time he had killed someone, trying and failing to hold back the sobs wracking his body. Hei, getting progressively better at hiding himself away under a stern countenance. Hei, acting more and more like a Contractor despite not being one. And even more so once he did become one._

_Hei was…different. He had had emotions, but his action had seemed to indicate a desire to become more like a Doll, to not feel anything. Why?_

He was suffering.

_How did she know that? Was it the music? __That had to be it; her memories told her that the melody she was currently playing would be classified as tragic__. She could identify it through her musical training, even if she couldn't understand the feeling behind it. But suddenly she wondered if she could understand, even if just a little bit. Emotional suffering was something she had experienced herself, although her problem was that she was afflicted with a lack of emotions, rather than too many negative ones. In a bizarre, twisted sort of way, Hei was just like her. He had been trying to escape from the situation the researchers had put him in, and he still hadn't managed to free himself from the damage done to him. In fact, he had lost even more than when he had been human. He could no longer make irrational decisions as a Contractor; he had lost his free will just as she had._

_Yin's fingers slowed as she contemplated this new revelation brought about by the music. They were the same. They were both trapped. His worn-out face in Ishbal, seen through her specter after he had barely escaped, with Amber's help, swam to the forefront of her mind, unbidden. Amber…Amber had wanted her to help Hei although no one else had seemed to care. When Amber had talked to her and Bai before that fateful, botched assassination attempt, Amber had looked at her seriously in the eyes, and had told her, "Help Hei, Yin." _

_Her fingers stopped moving abruptly as an epiphany slammed into her, and she stared dumbly ahead for a moment. It was so simple. Why hadn't she seen it before? She could act on Amber's order to help Hei, to go to the Gate to free him from that cage of rationality. And if she opened the Gate to pay for the return of Hei's free will, surely, surely the Gate would know what she wanted. Surely she would be able to pay for her own freedom as well…_

_She lifted her hands from the keys, and by the time the last echoes had faded away she had done it. She had begun the trade for her ability to make further decisions and to help lessen the burden of Hei's Contract. It was only a small trade—she couldn't yet handle the life-changing decision it would take to completely restore them both. But she had completed the trade once, and with what little she had regained of her free will, she could do it again._

_She stood up on her own for the first time in years and walked towards Hei._

_She and Hei were one step out of the cage binding them. And despite what it had cost her to allow them to make that step, as that sweet feeling she would later associate with freedom washed over her, Yin knew she wouldn't stop until they were both freed.

* * *

_

Yin shook herself slightly, removing herself from the memory and grounding herself in reality once more. The voice in her head didn't allow it for long.

_I can't understand you. If you had just left it at that, you could've been completely back to normal by now, without much of a price. But you just_ had_ to keep paying for him as well. He wouldn't have known any better if you hadn't. And you've already proved that you're able to mislead to him about both of your changes—he really believed that you didn't know anything._

Yin felt slightly weighted down—guilty—at the reminder of her lie. But it was all worth it—every bit of it. Hei deserved to be able to act on his own, to be happy. There was no need for him to know what she was sacrificing in exchange.

The voice didn't say anything, but Yin could feel something emanating from it. She wracked her brain, trying to identify the feeling coming from the thing in her head. It was… happiness? No, a vicious sort of pleasure. Smugness. That was it. She felt a small surge of satisfaction at being able to identify the feeling, but it quickly died as she realized that that vicious pleasure couldn't mean anything good, coming from the voice. She silently waited for the voice to explain itself.

_You've regained quite a bit, that's for certain. But you've lost a lot as well—Equivalent Exchange, remember? Don't you know what you've done?_

What she'd done? Yin considered the question, an uncomfortable feeling clenching at her chest. Flickers of Hei and the others talking about how a humanoid specter had killed the Contractors flashed through her mind. The prickling, unsettling emotion intensified to the point where she tried to block the memory.

_You did that,_ the voice told her in its smug voice. _You killed several people not too long ago._

"I didn't," Yin muttered aloud, blankly. November 11 had left long ago, no one was there to hear her speak, and the sound died quickly in the dingy apartment. It was as if even the apartment didn't believe her, and was quieting her voice. But the voice in her head heard, and she could practically see the voice smirk at her half-true statement. It knew.

_You've become an addict. An addict to free will, to emotions, and to watching your partner experience freedom as well. You've got yourself in too deep this time, and there's no chance of escape anymore. You're trapped._

She slowly shook her head as the uncomfortable feeling strengthened into a sort of pain. All she had wanted when she had kept on making the payment was to stay with Hei, to never again be caught in that terrible state of mind where she was worth nothing and had no reason to exist. She had finally found something that was worth the costly price—being with Hei. Protecting him.

_You haven't done so well on that account,_ the voice told her bluntly, an undercurrent of something she couldn't identify beneath its words.

That was true. Memories of a wounded Hei flashed through her mind. What she could do protecting-wise was limited, being a Doll. She remembered that feeling of weakness as she watched the illusion of Hei's body bleeding everywhere on the floor. She could feel the voice in her head smile a wide grin.

_The only way to protect someone in a world like this is to kill,_ the voice told her. _As you saw earlier, you already have that power. But you could have so much more. You could protect him. Another trade—_

"No," Yin said firmly, speaking aloud once more.

_You want to, _the voice told her. _I can see it. _She shook her head, but she could feel her heart rate increase, her breath quicken…fear. The voice's words scared her. She contemplated why for a moment, and her eyes squeezed tightly shut in another reflex reaction as she realized the answer. It was because they were the truth. _You can protect him if you can kill, _the voice continued. _That's what you want._

Yin slowly, slowly opened her eyes and repeated, "No."

_Why?_

"I don't want to kill."

_You already have._ She shook her head feebly._ You'll change your mind. You'll eventually see that it won't last like this,_ the voice told her. _He'll either leave, or stay with you and die._

Yin tried valiantly to ignore the voice, but the truth it contained poked and prickled at her. They were wanted fugitives, and had the Homunculi in addition to the entire military on the lookout for them. It wouldn't be long before someone slipped, before someone died. And the statement about Hei leaving her held some validity as well. Hei had said that protecting her was a mistake, that time in the cell before they were brought before the scientists. She couldn't quite block the… the uneasiness the memory brought up in her. Was there truly no way to escape killing? All she just wanted to stay with Hei. Her one wish.

_It's not going to happen,_ the voice told her, in that tone that rang of an inescapable truth. Her insides seemed to contract, leaving a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.

But…even if the voice was right, there was nothing she could do but wait for everything to play out. She stared blindly forward, surrounded by that ubiquitous darkness that was all the darker with Hei's absence. Yin lifted her chin slightly and tried to steel herself. No matter what would happen in the future, being with Hei had been more than she could have ever hoped for years ago. All she could do was be with him and protect him as much as possible for as long as she could. The voice was silent upon her conclusion, and she was once again left in that quiet that reeked of Hei's absence. She closed her eyes, and the darkness around her remained unchanged.

Yin hoped that Hei would come back soon. And that would be more than enough for her.

* * *

"Is that everything?"

Hei looked up upon hearing Parcel's nonchalant question to see her watching him from atop the bed of his old apartment, the one that had been raided a few days prior by Huang.

"Yes." He looked away from her back to the torn out wall that had concealed the extra weapons and bullet-proof coat that he was now wearing. "That's all I'll need."

"I'll take you there, but I'm not staying," Parcel warned him. "November 11's heading to a hideout on the edge of Central, and I'm going to meet him there after I've dropped you off. And then we're gettin' the heck out of here. No way am I getting mixed up in your fight."

"It'll be enough," Hei told her, turning his back to the wall and walking towards her. "Let's get going."

Parcel smirked. "Oh boy…I almost wish that I could see this. The look on your face…" she snorted. "If the researchers were scared of you when you were injured, now they're gonna be terrified. A fully healed, fully-armed Black Reaper."

Hei halted in front of her, his belt equipped with his usual wire and knives, his face promising retribution. "Let's go," he repeated.

"To under Central," Parcel finished for him, and moments later they had both disappeared with nothing showing that they had ever been there besides the gaping hole in the wall.


	28. For the Sake of a Smile

Chapter 28—For the Sake of a Smile

A/N: Wow, this is a _really_ late update. Sorry about that, but that's how it's gonna be this semester I'm afraid…

I don't own Darker than BLACK or Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

"_I wish circumstances would allow you smile more, Hei." _

_Hei looked up in mild surprise from where he was lounging on the couch to see Amber, back turned to him as she stared out the dirty, dust-flecked window of the barracks to observe the barren world that was Ishbal. He had learned to expect the unexpected when it came to Amber, but her statement was oddly sentimental, even taking her irregularities as a Contractor into account. As he contemplated her back, mildly curious about the reason for her behavior, she turned around and faced him. His eyes narrowed at her expression. Her eyebrows were lowered seriously, almost as if she was glaring at him; instead of her usual self-degrading smile there was a frown in place, etching lines into her face that, up-to-now, had been unfamiliar to him. _

_He could feel himself tensing. Was this it? Was she finally going to decide he wasn't worth protecting? He instinctively prepared for an attack…but somehow, deep down, he thought to himself that he was being ridiculous. He couldn't see Amber ever attacking him; what reason would she have to attack now, after she had spent all that effort to keep him alive for whatever unknown motive she had? He forced his muscles to loosen and willed his heartbeat to slow down; Amber wouldn't hurt him, not now. He watched her carefully nonetheless. "I want you to smile again, Hei," Amber continued in a voice that struck him with its solemnity. "And I swear to you, I will do anything and everything in my power to make it happen." _

_She suddenly grinned lightheartedly at him, seemingly back to her normal self, but instead of feeling reassured, Hei felt a shiver run down his spine. He shook off the feeling of foreboding. Although his instincts told him she would undoubtedly betray him at some point, as was a Contractor's nature, he couldn't help but trust her. She had saved him time and time again…what reason did he have to not trust her? Even his own sister would leave him to die in a heartbeat if it meant saving herself. Amber hadn't done that, and, despite his general unease about her, his gut-feeling that she would betray him, he felt that he trusted her far more than any other Contractor he had ever worked with. What would she gain by killing him now?_

_ If only… If only he had considered the possibility that she would destroy everything he had cared about to save him, to fulfill that promise. But he hadn't, and that was that.

* * *

_

"Where are we going?"

Ling looked over his shoulder back at Al, who had, quite unnecessarily, whispered the question moments before. There appeared to be no signs of life in the corridor as they ran buy—the only sounds echoing off of the stone walls were the pattering of human feet and Al's loud clanking. Ling observed Al for a moment before facing the front again. "We're getting you out of here," he answered nonchalantly.

"Only us?" Al asked in surprise, just as Lan Fan cried, "Master!" in dismay.

Ling shot Lan Fan a look before responding to Al, still scanning the dim and seemingly endless corridor ahead of them. "Yes, just you. We came here to find a researcher who can make us a Philosopher's Stone. That failed, but we can't just leave now."

"That's insane," Ed whispered in a gravelly voice from Al's arms. He gave a slight cough and glared at Ling; the impact of his admonishment was diminished by his ashen face, and the obvious pain he was in by having his wound being jolted around by Al's running.

"You need a doctor right?" Ling told him blandly. He looked back at Ed critically. "It's been what, ten minutes since we escaped? Now you can barely even talk." Ed opened his mouth to protest, but Ling cut him off. "We were even after your brother saved Lan Fan and Fuu, but I need you to owe me one. I'm going to need your help after we escape; none of us here are alchemists." Lan Fan's head lowered slightly from where she ran in front of the Elrics and Winry.

"Just listen to him, Ed," Winry said in a shaky attempt at a firm voice from Al's side.

"W—"

"She's right…" Al agreed slightly reluctantly. "We need to get you help." Ed grunted discontentedly. "We'll escape…But will you really be alright on your own?" Al asked Ling hesitantly.

"Hmph!" Fuu grunted this time as he turned around to glare at Al. "Such insolence! He is not alone. And what can you do in that state? You would only be a burden trying to protect your two companions."

For a moment the only sound surrounding them was their loud footsteps on the stone floor. "He's right…" Winry suddenly said, sounding a bit depressed. "We wouldn't be able to do anything to… Whoah!" She suddenly slipped and landed hard on her behind.

"Winry!" Al slowed to a stop and jogged back to help her up. Ed gritted his teeth at being jolted around in the sudden change in direction, but kept quiet.

"Ow…Sorry about that." She accepted Al's hand and stood up, breathing hard from the exertion of running, before sprinting off catch up with the others.

"The ground's been getting more and more slippery…"Al mused quietly to himself as he ran after her. "Are we near an underground lake?"

Ling chuckled to himself. "Close enough."

"Now that you mention it…It does smell kinda bad…" Ed rasped. "Almost like…"

"A sewer?" Winry whispered hoarsely. Ed glanced at her, noticing for the first time how unstable her voice seemed. She certainly seemed shaken. Although…after the shock of the death of Hughes, her capture, having had a sword at her throat, and the death of her captor, it was more than enough to make anyone shaken. She was probably frightened out of her mind; her whole world had been turned upside down in just a few days span. Al was right…they really did need to get out of here—only to get Winry to safety of course.

"Yep," Ling answered her as they all walked into the sewer. There were sidewalks on either side, but in the middle a filthy, sludge-like liquid slithered past them.

"Ugh," Ed grunted, and he tried to bury his nose in his arm to lessen the stench. "This reeks!"

"I suppose it would, being a sewer," Al observed in a half-hearted attempt at humor.

Ed groaned. "Don't you talk; you can't smell it."

"This leads to the outside if you follow it out," Ling informed them as he pointed to his left. "But you'll have to be careful—there are lots of weird creatures hiding around here. We killed quite a few, but—"

"Weird creatures…?" Al inquired.

"Yeah, they all look mixtures of different animals or something."

"Chimeras," Ed breathed. _Nina looked up at him. 'Big Brother'._

"They didn't…say anything, did they?" Al asked, sounding sickened as well. "They didn't look human or anything, right?"

"Of course not," Ling scoffed. "They were just monsters."

"But—"

"You might want to worry about a different kind of monster," they all heard a voice say just to the right of them, down the sewer. Everyone's head snapped in the direction of the voice, and Winry gasped audibly.

Barely visible in the dim light of a faraway torch stood the Fuhrer on one of the sidewalks, swords drawn. Beside him were an obese man in a black suit, currently sucking on his fat index finger and looking hungrily at them, and a beautiful woman with long, dark hair who seemed a little bored with the proceedings. Ed's eyes grew wide as he saw her. "You…! You were at—"

"The Lab Number Five," the woman finished for him. "Yes, I know." She sighed. "It's such a shame that you and your brother are so rebellious. You both would have made excellent human sacrifice candidates…"

"Your objective is still to capture them, Lust," a voice from the shadows told her sharply.

Lust sighed and waved her hand in the air casually. "Yes, yes, I know, Pride."

"Ed," Winry whispered to him from behind Al, her voice shaking. "Who are these people?"

"People we need to get away from _right now_," Ed breathed back. The sound of a sword being drawn distracted him, and he shot a glance towards Ling who was warily watching the Homunculi in front of him. His bodyguards drew their weapons in concert with his motion.

"You're strange ones, aren't you?" Ling asked them suspiciously. "Just how many souls do you have inside you?" Quiet pervaded the room following his question.

"Kill that one," the voice of the one they called Pride suddenly ordered the other Homunculi sharply. "He can sense what we are."

"Ling we have to run!" Al told the Xingese prince. His armored feet shifted, ready to sprint away.

"What are you?" Ling asked the Homunculi, ignoring Al.

Ed groaned. "Damn it…!" He cursed under his breath. "Damn it Ling! Forget about the stupid stone!"

"Can I eat them?" the fat man asked the woman eagerly, his eyes not leaving the Xingese trio for a moment. "The stringy man, and the boy, and that yummy looking girl?" Ran Fan's head raised ever so slightly.

"Yes, you can Gluttony. Make sure to swallow them whole," the woman told him while patting his head as if the man was a dog. Gluttony's face broke into a deliriously happy grin that split his fat, round face in two.

"Who are you?" Ling demanded once more. Lust turned to him; her impossibly red lips upturned in a disdainful smile.

"We're the Homunculi."

* * *

Hei sprinted through the ventilation shaft, feet clanging loudly against the metal below as he sped over the cells below. He could hear the occasional cries of surprise and supplication from prisoners as he passed above them, but he ignored them. He had no time to be freeing anyone except the Elric brothers, if he could even find them. Time was of the essence, and with the amount of noise he was making by running over the cells, he would have to continue changing routes in order to not be discovered. He glanced down into one of the cells below through the grate at his feet, and a teenager's gaping face imprinted itself in his mind before it was gone and he was rushing past other cells. The prisoners here were young—he had to be getting close to the labs that worked on Dolls, where the Elrics had been…

"U-um, so…" Hei froze immediately as he heard a voice approaching, and listened intently to the nearing sound. "I-I think we should look into studying that abnormal protein I isolated from that chimera. It shows unusual stability under extreme temperatures, almost as if it were from an extremophile. B-but none of the components of the chimera were from any severe environments. I-"

"Mina," the other scientist interrupted her impatiently. "In another age, your research may have been interesting. But it is of no use to us now. We are creating new beings! Frankly, what you're studying is unimportant."

"I-I think it is important!" Mina asserted a little more strongly. "It helps us understand the nature of proteins, and…" her voice faltered, and Hei could only assume the other scientist was giving her a skeptical glare. The female scientist paused and continued more half-heartedly. "That protein shouldn't have existed in that chimera. Wouldn't that be considered important?"

"It's probably just an aberration due to the combination process," the scientist told her patiently. "You know as well as I do that the mutation process creates genetic anomalies. Provide excuses that are more scientifically sound."

"But—If I run more tests—" Mina protested, a trace of panic in her voice now.

The other researcher breathed out slowly through his nose. "Just stay here for a bit and think about it, Mina. If you continue to avoid working on live subjects, you'll be dismissed. And not just from your research, because a dismissal means your life as you know it ends." There was a pause. "All I'm asking is that you consider it. We need scientists like you, to help develop living weapons to stop the people trying to kill us. You were almost stabbed just earlier today by that Contractor, isn't that right? Don't you want to ensure your safety for next time?" There was no response, and Hei could hear footsteps as one of them walked away. "Like I said, just think it over. I'll be back in a bit."

Hei listened to the sound of footsteps fade away. So…the male researcher had left, leaving this other researcher, who had been in the room he and Yin had been in a while ago, and who might know the location of the Elrics…

He rushed over to a position in the ventilation shaft that was outside the cells and right above the hallway where the female scientist was. He kicked out the grate below him, and before the scientist could even utter a gasp of shock, he had her pinned against the stone wall by her throat.

"Where are the Elric brothers?" he demanded her. Her mouth opened and closed dumbly; her eyes wide in terror. He pressed his forearm against her neck more strongly now, and she spluttered accordingly, her hands grasping frantically to pull his arm away. "I asked where they were."

"C-can't…" she wheezed. He lowered the force he was applying to her windpipe, and she gasped as her lungs gratefully inhaled some more air. He waited impatiently. "I-I-I don't—"

"Don't bother with the lies." The scientist winced as his arm pressed a little further into her throat. "You know where they are."

"N-no!" the woman gasped. "They e-escaped… No one knows where they are now!"

"Escaped…?" Hei muttered to himself, a little disbelievingly. He took away his arm from the female scientist's neck, and she collapsed immediately, doubled over and coughing. "Where were they seen last?"

The woman didn't answer him, but remained crumpled on the floor, wheezing for breath. He waited for a moment, but she continued to struggle for breath on the floor. "Tch…" he bit out. He didn't have time to wait for her to recover; he had to keep moving…

"My, my, so rough," a cheerful voice intoned from behind him. A _familiar,_ cheerful voice. But… now way. It couldn't be. He whirled around, his eyes already widening in pre-meditated rage.

_Amber. _

The person who had caused the death of his little sister.

For a moment, he felt just as floored as the woman still struggling to breathe at his feet for, but just a second later, that didn't matter. All that mattered was that the person who had practically murdered his sister, who had convinced her to kill herself, was just within reach, just behind those bars, smiling at him with that usual, inane expression on her face. His fingers flexed, seemingly of their own accord, wishing to be around Amber's throat before he had even considered the thought. He could feel that urge to kill bubbling sickeningly up, just as it had only a few hours ago when he had believed Yin to be dead. He would kill her. But first… He eyed the bars separating him from her.

"It's sad isn't it?" Amber said with a smile that made it seem that she had aged far beyond her years, which was ironic considering the fact that she hadn't aged a day since he had last seen her. His hand twitched again at the sound of her voice, his rage growing ever-faster at the fact that she dare attempt to reason with him after what she had done. "People change. At the very beginning, you would have never attacked an innocent. But now you think nothing of it." Amber gestured the woman now prostrate on the floor.

"Shut up!" Hei snarled, his impassive mask breaking for a moment as his vision flickered red. But he couldn't do it, not yet. He needed to know something first, and he couldn't let this woman get to him.

"I wonder… have you changed enough that you'll be able to kill me?" Amber asked him as she tilted her head at him and smiled her old smile. _Fake, fake, it's all fake._

"You killed my sister," Hei reminded her, forcing his voice into a more composed intonation. _Don't lose control, you won't ever forgive yourself if you don't know…_

Amber gazed back at him, her lips quirking down. "I guess it was too much to hope that you would stay the same, Hei." He bristled as she called him by name. She didn't appear to notice and continued blithely on, "Since I'm still alive for the moment, I assume you have some questions for me?"

"Why?" he simply asked her out without elaboration.

She knew immediately what he was talking about. "It was the only choice she could make, Hei."

"No," he growled back, his eyes narrowing into slits, and his teeth gritting at what he now knew to be a lie. _Liar._ "That's the only future that you _showed_ Bai, but it didn't mean that it was the only one. You once told me there were nearly infinite possibilities in the future, so you couldn't have known for sure that there were only two outcomes—for either Bai to die, or for the entire country to be destroyed." His teeth clenched harder together, and Amber watched him impassively. "You were just trying to get rid of her. You showed her a terrible future, told her that it was the only future unless she committed suicide, and forced her to die. You killed her!"

There was a pregnant silence, before Amber simply lowered her head. He watched her, vaguely keeping track of the scientist behind him who was slowly getting up off of the floor. "I was hoping…" Amber began before heaving a despondent sigh, seeming resigned. She fell silent.

"That really was your plan then?" Hei asked her in conformation. She didn't look at him. "What would you gain from that?" he asked her voice shaking. "What would be worth my sister's death?" She merely glanced up to smile serenely at him. "You won't answer?" he growled.

She looked at him, still smiling. _You already know the answer, _her expression told him. But he didn't. He still didn't understand. She had never really opened up to him, had almost always remained in secrecy about everything. How was he supposed to understand? A part, a very small part admittedly, hoped that it all hadn't been a lie, that she would just explain her actions, to explain that Bai really had died for a reason. But she remained silent.

"Tell me," he ordered once more.

"I convinced Bai to commit suicide, and I placed the burden of the Contract on you, after all you had been through," Amber told him calmly. "What more is there to say? Contractors don't need a reason to kill."

He looked at her, his features frozen into a stoic expression. "Perhaps you're right," he told her quietly, and his hand flew towards his knife.

_It's time… _There was no other option, she had to do it now, before it was too late, before that Doll had even more time to develop. She couldn't let that one particular future go into effect; she had to thwart _that _man's efforts somehow. Hei reached for his knife, and with a surreal glow enveloping her, Amber paused the time.

She stepped forward, slowly, slowly, reaching through the bars, but was unable to touch him. He was too far away.

"Even now…I'm trapped," Amber sighed. She sat back onto the floor and stared at the overly-familiar ceiling. "It seems even now, when you're right there Hei, I can't reach you." She sighed again, remembering, years, decades, ago.

"_What are the enemy's plans?" a scientist demanded of her. "Tell us, what happens during the Promised Day? Will we succeed?"_

"_I don't know," Amber sighed in exasperation. Her lower lip stuck out in a slight pout. "How many times do I have to say it? I can move through time, but I can't teleport!" She kicked at the floor to demonstrate the impenetrability of her prison. "What makes you think I can just pop up wherever I want when I time travel? I control the when, not the where."_

"_Why does it even matter if you cannot move your location when you travel through time?" the curious newest addition to the research department inquired. "You could still time travel to the future, couldn't you? You could still see it."_

"_Yes, but from the inside of a cell," Amber replied wryly. "And no one ever lets me out, so I just keep on traveling through time to this very spot, trapped behind bars. It's not very good for intelligence gathering if I'm stuck here, now is it?"_

_The __newbie__ opened his mouth and shut it, shocked, before hastily opening it again. "But then…why don't we open… I mean…you're a Contractor after all…"_

"_And therefore inherently trustworthy," another scientist reprimanded him. He gave her a sidelong glance. "She wouldn't do anything detrimental to her well-being, so my bet is that she's probably not telling the whole truth now, or any of the other times we asked her. And even if what she says is true, we can't let her out. She will stay in there for as long as she lives."_

_Amber stared blandly forward, as they would expect of a Contractor. But inside, she smiled to herself, pleased at her deception. True, she couldn't time travel to anyplace but her current location. But this cell hadn't always been here. In the recent past this cell had just been a hollow pocket in a system of underground caves, and far into the future, half of it had collapsed from a cave-in, bars degraded from rust and disuse, allowing her to escape the cell and roam free. She knew several possible outcomes of their plan in the future, but she would never tell them, would never allow them to have that advantage over her from just a simple request._

_She always returned though, to this cell that trapped her in this time. The Contract imposed upon her by these men sealed her face in an unshakable mask, but one day, one day, she would break this last vestige of control they had over her. She would free herself from her Contract. And the only way she would be able to figure out how to do it was if she was around these scientists that surely knew the way to do so._

Amber smiled at the memory. "I never did end up completely freeing myself, I suppose. But it doesn't matter; I have the ability to ignore the Contract now. And that's all I wanted in the first place." With a slight giggle she lay back, her arms behind her head. Hei still remained frozen, the scientist's mouth remained open in a slight 'o' as she watched the drama unfolding before her. It was as if she, Amber, was alone, in the presence of two immobile statues. She smiled to herself, humming a tune that she made up as she went. This was going to be very tricky, and she wanted all distractions out of her head before she pulled it off.

"_Who's that?" she whispered to a random passerby as he walked past under the burden of several heavy-looking stacks of paper. It was another timeline, a completely different world, but it seemed at least paperwork was unchanged. __Her lips twitched at the thought__._

_The man glanced at her before looking in the direction her eyes pointed, and chuckled. "I wouldn't get too interested, miss. That's the Black Reaper, one of our best fighters in this unit. He kills everyone on orders, no matter who, and some people say he's a psychopath—"_

_Amber smiled carelessly at the man and headed over in the Black Reaper's direction before he had finished talking. She was getting too old, she told herself. Getting bored to the point of actually hoping this Black Reaper was a psychopath, just for something interesting to happen, was just pathetic. But humans, who had seemed so confounding and unpredictable at first to her logical mind, were really a dull and predictable bunch if you observed them for long enough. This was mostly because of the general human desire to blend in—but that had a root in a stronger human impulse. No one wanted to be different because no one wanted to be alone. That was why all of them were so scared of death—they were absolutely terrified of being alone. Because, foremost and above all else, humans wanted to be loved._

_She stopped in front of the man called the Black Reaper, and looked down intensely at him. A Xingese man of around twenty years didn't look up. Her eyebrows rose in impatience. She had seen a lot, lived a long time while time-traveling, aided by her Contract's payment of aging backwards. But somehow, she still disliked people who wasted her time._

_The Black Reaper finally raised his head lethargically and looked up at her with dead eyes. "What is it?"_

_Not a psychopath then, Amber quickly judged as she took in his exhausted form. This man seemed sane enough, although very trodden-upon. The typical depressed killer. How boring. She heaved a sigh, shook her head, and started to walk away. To her surprise, she heard a soft snort from behind her, and her head turned back around to observe him curiously. The faintest of smiles was on his lips._

_She stared unabashedly. What a strange response._

_The man stood up, and held his hand out to her politely. "My name's Hei. Nice to meet you." He had suddenly become all smiles, the very picture of courtesy, but it was all wrong, all wrong. Everything about him seemed like every boring, affable person on this planet, but those same dead eyes still looked at her from under his friendly expression. She smiled and took his hand, interest perked. A man with a mask—these sort of people were always unpredictable. It would be entertaining to discover who he really was._

_This may have been a different timeline, a different dimension than her own, but she would keep an eye out for this Hei in her own timeline. Interesting people always made the time pass quicker._

Amber smiled to herself as she stared up at the stone ceiling. It was funny how these things started in such strange ways. How a mild interest eventually turned into this.

"_Retreat!" Hei screamed to his comrades as everything exploded around him. "This way!" He herded his sister away from the line of fire. Amber stepped in front of him, took in his crazed eyes and bloodied form._

"_The other way will cause less casualties," she informed him calmly. He absorbed her words for a moment and took off in the opposite direction, leading the Contractors away from certain defeat. She watched him go, the back of a mere boy burdened with the lives of all those Contractors…it was tragic, but certainly not very interesting. There were too many such stories in this dull world, and Hei at this age wasn't very intriguing—he was not yet the cool, masked killer that he would later become. Right now, he was just like every other human—consumed by the terror of death, she could see it in his eyes. But yet…She felt her feet moving her forward through the battlefield after him._

_She wanted to see how he was holding up._

She had been bored, because everyone was the same, all fearing to die, all wanting to be loved. But she had been wrong; there were so many other qualities to take into account besides those base emotions. Nearly all humans wanted to be loved, but even though Hei knew that his sister did not and could not love him, he had loved her unconditionally, and had become a monster for her sake. He had feared dying, but for him, his sister's death was an even greater terror. Hei was different.

His sister was now dead because of her and he despised her for it, but Amber told herself that she didn't care. Although someday he might realize why she had acted as she did, there was an equally likely possibility that he would go on hating her until he died himself. She told herself she didn't mind.

That was a lie.

It seemed, just like every other boring human on this boring planet, she too wanted to be loved.

_She wandered through frozen time, ambling towards Hei's barracks.__Nothing moved; to normal people, it would seem as if she had simply appeared from nowhere when she restarted time again. She quietly walked into Hei's room, shut the door behind her, and restarted time. He was, for once, fast asleep. No nightmares tonight, it seemed. She could feel herself staring, a slow smile growing across her face. She reached out and touched her hand lightly against his cheek. Hei's exhausted face twitched, and she felt mildly guilty about disturbing the little sleep he was able to get. This was Ishbal, and it was one of the rare times he was—or had been—fast asleep. _

"_Amber," he mumbled sleepily. Her eyes widened, and for a moment, she could have sworn that time had stopped. But no… he was still breathing in and out softly. Still asleep…was he dreaming? _

She shook herself out of the memory, and slowly stood up. "I guess this is long enough, isn't it, Hei?" She smiled up at his immobile face. She couldn't reach out to him any longer but… "It's enough…" she sighed, preparing herself. "Being with you has been more than enough."

She reached down to the source of her power and let it loose, felt it flowing through and out of her. _Don't do this! _the weak voice of her faded Contract protested feebly. _You'll…_

She knew. She could feel herself shrinking, her bones creaking painfully as they contracted, and she doubled over. Everything inside her was shrinking, joints grinding together and muscles contracting painfully as the two statues that were Hei and the scientist woman watched, frozen. She had never done anything of this magnitude before, and she was shrinking faster than she had thought possible. Fifteen…nine…five…how old was she now? She squinted through her pain up at Hei, trying to drink in every last detail. Just a bit more—just a bit more and it would all be done—

But she couldn't. Just one last look, one last peek at a Hei that wasn't a frozen statue, uncaringly watching her demise…

With a start she let go of her grip on her power for just a moment, and movement and time returned to her surroundings: the gaping of the scientist behind Hei, his harsh breathing as he stared at her, grasping at the knife…his eyes, which had been full of hatred seconds ago were widening in shock.

There was an explosion. Amber kept her eyes on Hei, to watch him for as long as she could…

"Wha…?" Hei said, stumbling back a bit as another explosion shook the cells, uncharacteristically ungraceful in his confusion. Amber felt the overly-familiar walls around her shake again. Hei looked at her, seeming to finally realize something. 'That's your price…' She saw him mouth to himself. "What did you do?" he suddenly demanded angrily. "Did you time travel?"

She smiled at him, waved an unnaturally small, chubby finger at him. "No, no," she chirped in an unusually high-pitched voice. She straightened up on wobbly toddler legs. She could see herself, now around two years old, reflected in his eyes. "That's not it. You'll find out soon enough." The walls shivered threateningly again. "The Elric brothers are fighting back," she told him. Her voice was high and childish. How humiliating. "You should go and help them." She tried to keep herself stoic; it was harder than she would have thought possible to fight back the infantile tears natural to a child her age. _Don't make a fool of yourself—_ "They're close."

"But—" Hei protested but then there was another explosion and she stood calmly and stopped the time once more. She had to finish it… She shrunk, and it hurt, and she couldn't repress the shivers convulsing across her body as she grew smaller and smaller, everything growing fuzzier, less defined. Finally, after so many years…

"_What would be worth my sister's death?" Hei had demanded her in a voice that was beyond hatred._

"A smile." The garbled phrase was little more than a baby's gurgle, but Hei wouldn't have been able to hear her anyways. She tried to look up at his frozen figure, but could only see the stone floor below her and the tiny baby hands in front of her face. As solace, she tried to picture those few times she had seen Hei's true smile, those times that had seemed to be so extraordinarily bright despite the fact that everything was wrong, that the world was such a messed up, awful place. Those few times he had smiled, he had been happy, even if just for a while, and therefore so had she.

Amber closed her eyes and smiled, content. Hei surely wasn't smiling now. And he had had few causes to smile after his sister's death. But that didn't matter. At least, with what she had done, they had a chance. With the choices she had made, there was always…

"The future," Amber tried to say and everything faded to white.


	29. Gain and Sacrifice

A/N: In this chapter italics in quotes means Xingese is being spoken.

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Darker than BLACK

* * *

He ran and ran and ran—the others gave him looks and he was vaguely aware that his eyes were bulging excitedly and he was gasping for breath but it didn't matter, it didn't matter, didn't they see? He had finally figured it out! That puzzle that he had been pondering over for years, solving it piece by hard-earned piece—he had just discovered the information that would connect it all.

He skidded round the corner, his heart beating uncomfortably fast—he would need to remember to talk to his doctor, that medication really didn't work to his satisfaction—and pushed past a couple of students of his.

"Did you get something, Doc?" his flippant, newly appointed assistant—the old one had just been stabbed by the Black Reaper only hours ago—yelled after him with an understanding grin on his face. Or perhaps it was condescension. No matter, he was happy enough to skip all the way down the hall to report his new findings!

He crowed back jubilantly at his assistant, "Yes, yes!" and scampered off before he could see his assistant's reaction. He reached the door and pounded excitedly on it, protocol be damned, not today, not the day of his triumph.

"…Who is it?" the familiar voice asked in a manner that was meant to be chilling. He leaned back, trying to catch his breath.

"D-Doctor Schroeder," he gasped in reply, a huge smile still on his face. He straightened up and waved his hands around excitedly. "I've got it! I've got it! I know—the Dolls are changing—I know why!" He took a deep breath and tried to speak more clearly through his excitement and repeated, "I know why the Dolls are changing!" He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he said it.

There was silence for a moment. "Come in." The doors opened and he hurried inside. It wasn't the most inviting place: pipes wove in and out of the floor haphazardly and the chimeras patrolling around the room would snap if you got too close. But it was clean and dry, so Dr. Schroeder wasn't deterred in the least. He had been in this very room many times before.

He walked in front of the speaker. It was _him,_ the perpetrator of this whole plan. Bearded, blond, and appearing to be at least in his late fifties, he was a man—no, not a man, more than a man—that exuded power as he looked down on the scientist from his chair in the center of the room. "Speak."

Dr. Schroeder took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "As you well know, ever since the discovery of the changes in Doll subject number twenty-four after the Ishbalan conflict, we have been trying to ascertain the cause. And as I'm sure you know, there was a conflict involving the aforementioned Doll earlier." He took another big breath and hurriedly continued. "Based on what I have just observed, I believe I know why the Dolls have been changing."

The bearded figure watched him in an almost uninterested manner. And Dr. Schroeder would have been almost offended, if not for the slightest spark of intrigue he saw in the timeless face in front of him. "Go on."

"We had always thought that a Doll's specter was simply a fragment of their soul that had been given form. Dolls could see and hear through their specters; thus, our assumption that specters were souls was reinforced when we learned that the armored Elric brother, who exists as a mere soul, is able to hear, see and speak himself with no physical means to do so…" The scientist paused. "But that assumption was not only wrong, it was misleading.

"We normal humans, who have not seen the Gate, cannot see the Doll's specters. Therefore, we worked under the incorrect postulation that souls were only something one could see after seeing the Truth, only something that was visible to human sacrifices, Homunculi, Contractors, and Dolls. But before the Elrics escaped, Pride was given the task of looking discretely inside Alphonse Elric's armor to see if they could see anything akin to a specter. There was nothing, as far as he could see. Just an empty armor. Consequently, specters are not the same as a pure soul. They are something else entirely."

The bearded figure watched him agelessly, patiently.

"Before the last of the Contractors killed himself under the influence of the Doll, he yelled, 'Her specter is humanoid!' All previous reports by the Contractors have informed us that specters have a blob-like form. Now we have a case of an anthropomorphic specter, which just happens to belong to the only Doll subject who has been noted to experience changes in behavior to such a magnitude. I believe this specter transformation…was actually a result of the specter growing stronger, allowing it to resume its true form." The scientist paused. "From here on out, this is going to be mostly speculation, but nonetheless it is speculation that I am certain is true."

The figure he was talking to nodded slowly.

"Something has always been nagging at the back of my mind since the very first Doll experiment. Why did they pay so much for their power? They lost everything that most humans would hold dear to them, something that was certainly worth a very high price, for what appeared to be a rather useless ability—to send their specters through a certain medium to spy on others. But what if their payment was so high because their core ability is in actuality something completely different than we first concluded?" Dr. Schroeder straightened up. "From what I just witnessed—a Doll's specter taking a humanoid form and ordering the suicide of _only_ Contractors, the only people in the vicinity that have seen the Gate—I can conclude that the specter is in fact, even if it's a mere shadow of it… the Doll's Truth." Dr. Schroeder paused for dramatic effect, although the bearded figure seemed vaguely unimpressed.

"This makes sense," Dr. Schroeder insisted hurriedly, seemingly worried by his audience's lack or response. "Because people who have seen the Gate seem to have a stronger connection with it than most other humans. The only possible conclusion is that that Doll has at least a limited amount of control over the Gate, enough to influence the actions of others whose very beings are tightly interwoven with the Gate. It also makes sense if you consider the surprisingly gradual changes the Doll has been undergoing lately in contrast to one sudden trip to the Gate that would have allowed her to regain their free will. She must have steadily gained control over her power using her control over the Gate, and now can even command Contractors' deaths!"

"Your logic is flawed," the bearded man spoke up suddenly in his booming voice. The scientist shrank back slightly. "The Doll may have indeed once had a degree of control over the Gate. It may even be true that Doll's in general have a degree of control over the Gate. But for the Doll in question, I doubt that is true any longer." He paused, and the Dr. Schroeder blinked. "It would seem that now it is the Truth that is now gaining control over her."

"Hmm…" the scientist murmured, not deterred in the least by the man's blatant denial of his theory. "Yes, yes. That could be. Especially considering the changes the Doll has been experiencing … perhaps that was the price of her changing in the first place. The freedom to make decisions in exchange for losing control of oneself to the Truth. How ironic."

"So the Truth is becoming manifested in this world in the form of the Doll's specter," the bearded figure mused. "That could be useful." He looked to Dr. Schroeder, who had a delighted look on his face and was murmuring feverishly to himself. The bearded figure observed him with a bored sort of curiosity on his face for a moment. "You, human. Why do you try to betray your race? Why do you conduct experiments on your own kind?"

The researcher looked startled for a moment before he scratched at his frizzy hair. "Hmm…a very good question indeed." He considered the question for a moment. "I am sure that the research I conduct, concerning lives as it is, would certainly not be considered ethical by the general public." He shrugged. "But most of the subjects were orphans or children that wouldn't have been able to survive in this kind of world anyway. I suppose you could even say we saved them."

"Many were intentionally orphaned by actions of the Homunculi," the bearded figure stated bluntly and without remorse.

The scientist grinned ruefully back at him. "Ah, you're right, you're right. And I know that, but I still can't regret it. I have never once questioned my actions, you see. And especially not the Philosopher stone project, probably because..." He scratched his chin, thinking thoughtfully. "Because maybe the only way humans can be saved from killing each other is if they're forced into a tiny stone…" He held up his hand, pretending to hold up a Philosopher's stone. "And are forced to coexist, unable to fight." His grin suddenly widened. "Or perhaps, and more likely, I just want to learn everything there is to learn and know everything I possibly can!"

The bearded figure with the appearance of a man glanced upwards. "Truly…humanity is beyond salvation then…" Somewhere above, unseen, the moon glowed, a pale imitation of the sun. But soon, that imitation would block the rays of the real source of light, and the country would be thrown into darkness.

Still…something was off. Everything had seemed normal until a couple of minutes before the scientist had barged into his quarters, but then… something was different. The air or the atmosphere, the feeling of the humans walking above him…something was off that he couldn't quite place. He dismissed the scientist from the room, still looking up, when a possibility hit him. But…it couldn't be…

He nonetheless transmuted a small hole in the ceiling above him, and sure enough, the moon wasn't where it was supposed to be for a midsummer's night. His eyes narrowed and a slight trickle of unease flowed through him for the first time in decades.

"Amber!"

* * *

"Amber—what…?" Hei shouted but…she was gone. The cell was empty. Had she time traveled away? No, she couldn't have risked decreasing her age anymore could she? Unless… that was what she had wanted to do. "Amber…" he growled, slamming his fist against a bar. The scientist behind him jumped noticeably as the metallic clang echoed loudly down the corridor. The din of the other prisoners fell utterly silent. "_What did you do?_" he snarled to the empty air that had contained Amber only moments before. She had done _something,_ something big enough that had required her to pay a price big enough that it would erase her existence entirely. Knowing Amber, it couldn't have been anything good.

"Uh—um…" the female scientist stuttered behind him. He turned around and glared at her; it was enough to quell her into silence. There was utter quiet in the corridor for one split second.

"BOOM!" Another explosion rocked the underground prison. The Elrics. That was right, that was what he had come for originally—he had lost himself enough to forget that. _Focus on the mission._ He could deal with the consequences of whatever Amber had done later. _Pretend you're back in Ishbal. There's just the mission. _He spared the empty cell one last look before throwing his wire back up into the ventilation shaft, and hauling himself up. As he took off again, he could hear the female scientist call after him: "Uh…um—Thank you!"

_Thank you…? For what? Not killing her? _He brushed it off and continued running towards the source of the last explosion. He had to focus—to not think about anything else—not Yin, not his sister, not Amber's disappearance, just the task at hand. _Concentrate._ Wipe everything else out. Like a Contractor.

Another explosion shook the entire air duct he was in. Dust fell from crevices to settle in patchy patterns over the floor. His head turned in the direction the sound had come from. It had been closeby… He sped down a different path from the one he had been about to choose, towards the growing commotion he could already hear. It wasn't long before he could hear voices.

"Dammit!" _Ed._ "Al, put me down! You need to use alchemy!"

"Ling, let's go! We need to get out of here!" _Al._ Another explosion rocked everything in the vicinity, and then the sound of falling rocks echoed from the nearby ventilation shaft.

They really had escaped from the scientists then? Well, at least they had made themselves easy to find.

He kicked out the ventilation shaft and dropped down from it in one swift motion—to find that he had landed on the sidewalk of a sewer, right in front of a charging Gluttony. The Homunculus stopped running in surprise, its mouth gaping slightly as his head tilted to the side as he observed Hei dumbly. Hei's hand promptly shot forward and electrocuted him.

"Gaaahh! Ow, ow, owie!" Gluttony screamed as he collapsed to the floor, muscles twitching of their own accord as the electric current pulsed through him. Hei leaped away, and, with a quick sweep of his eyes, saw the unmistakable form of Al through the dust and debris and backed over towards him. "Lust! It hurts! It really hurts!"

"You're going to attract a lot of attention," Hei quickly told Ed, whom he could now see lay bleeding from an arm wound as he lay on the ground to the side of the sewer, his alchemy restraint removed. Ed's eyes grew round. Al stood nearby, without his restraints as well, and a blonde girl hid behind him, barely visible. His eyes flicked back to Ed. "They'll be able to hear you halfway across the lab."

"Y-you escaped too?" Al stuttered as Ed still gaped up at him. The girl looked from one boy to the other, trying to gauge from their reactions if he was an enemy. He didn't bother to answer Al's question; it was obvious enough.

"Who else are you up against?" he questioned them sharply. He heard a sharp cry further down the sewer, but the debris still hadn't cleared from the explosions and he couldn't make out any clear human forms.

"Homunculi," Ed told him. Hei could barely hear what he was saying over the renewed sound of sword clashes down the corridor. "There're three or four of them. We have a couple more people on our side now though."

"Where are they?"

"They're fighting further down the sewer, I think…"

"Tch…" Hei bit out, cursing the unknown allies. He could have just gotten the Elrics out and electrocuted everything in the sewer… it seemed he would have to try to fight the Homunculi hand-to-hand.

A thin, long, and black cylindrical object shot out from the settling dust cloud, and Hei automatically moved out of the way. It hit the wall behind him, and vibrated ominously with a 'twang!' only inches away from his head. Lust's nails.

"My my, so that's where you ran off too, Mr. Black Reaper," Lust's familiar voice rang out from the sewer. He could hear something rise from the sewer water, and saw Gluttony standing up with a huge grin on his face to stand beside her.

"Lust, can I eat that man?" he asked her with a tilt of his head, the expectant smile undiminished by the raw red burns still visible on parts of his body that were slowly disappearing under sparks of light.

Lust gave Hei a wide, sultry smile. "Don't leave a single hair."

* * *

Lan Fan had never seen anything like it.

The man—or was it really a man?—whirled around in the air with a sword in a manner that was almost magnificent and slammed it down onto her grandfather's sword, raised just in time to protect his head from being split like a melon.

"Uhn!" he grunted from the effort of the impact, but the man that was not a man had already moved on, blocking her stab, and aiming one of her own at her prince._ No!_ She swept down in a round kick to distract her prince's attacker, but he merely jumped towards the prince, adding momentum to his stab. Her prince parried the attack effortlessly.

"You are the Fuhrer, the ruler of this country, correct?" Ling asked him as he whipped his dao sword towards the man's head. Lan Fan's eyes widened beneath her mask, frantically trying to recall what she had memorized on the man's profile. _This man? The Fuhrer?_

"What of it?" the man answered uninterestedly as he simultaneously blocked her grandfather's and Ling's subsequent attacks in an air that was almost bored. "Are you upset that I am allowing human experimentation?" Ling glared at the Fuhrer.

_Now!_ She rushed in to stab the Fuhrer's unprotected side in the opening her grandfather and Ling had made—he had his hands busy with her two comrades, he wouldn't be able to block—but he somehow managed in a flurry of swords to push her master and her grandfather away. And suddenly—she was face to face with the Fuhrer of this cruel land where alchemy was everything and human life was nothing, gritting her teeth with the effort of keeping back his sword with her knife.

"Lan Fan!" her prince rushed in, swinging his sword, and the Fuhrer swiveled out of the way, a whirlwind of blades and metal. Only her grandfather's intervention prevented her prince's head from falling off his shoulders and into the sewer; nonetheless, her prince fell backwards with a splash into the filth.

"I see…" the Fuhrer mused as he looked down on her prince, not seeming to struggle in the least as her grandfather rained blow after blow upon him. She hurried to help her grandfather—no one would look down on her prince, not while she lived! "So you are the type that would risk everything for those below you." Her prince picked himself up from the sewers and flung himself into the fight once more. "How foolish." Sparks danced in the air, metal shrieked in agony as the blades collided over and over again.

"Then what would you do?" Ling demanded breathlessly as he aimed a kick at the man's head. "Leave a subordinate to die?"

The Fuhrer dropped one of his swords and managed to capture her prince's foot in the same instant. He was trapped. Lan Fan's heart stopped. _No! _"Yes," the Fuhrer replied without hesitation, and the sword in his other hand flashed towards her prince—she could feel herself flying forward, she had to get there in time—she braced her kunai—but, somehow he had foreseen it and then there was the sound of tearing skin and muscles.

For a split second there was no pain.

And then there was.

Her mouth opened and closed as she tried not to scream, but a strangled sort of groan escaped her anyways. "Lan Fan!" she heard the prince shout, who had already gotten up during her only seconds-long engagement with the Fuhrer, heard her grandfather's enraged cry, and then clashes of swords as they both leaped to engage the enemy. Without her. She had failed.

She collapsed into the sewer filth, joining the other Amestrian boy who bled on the ground—the dust had cleared, she could see him now. His armored brother crouched over him, protecting him from the strange, fingernail-like projectiles that had just shot out from the female homunculus's hands.

"Hey…" she heard the boy, bone-pale from the blood lost from his wound, say. She groaned in response. "Hey, hang in there! Winry!"

"G-got it!" a voice responded. Someone splashed over to her through the sewage and carefully dragged her towards the sewer sidewalk. "There's nothing to clean it with!"

"Just stop the bleeding!" the boy yelled back. "We'll worry about infection later!" And after a tearing sound of fabric, she could feel something being wrapped around her arm. She gritted her teeth, and looked around wildly for something to distract her.

She saw a man, whose face she couldn't see, engaging both the female and the fat homunculi at once. Even the armored brother who had defeated her grandfather tried ineffectively to keep up with the stranger, but kept getting pushed back effortlessly by the homunculi. The man stabbed and sliced his enemies over and over again, dodging their continuous attacks without any major damage to himself, but they just kept on regenerating. Was there no limit to their healing ability? Her eyes swept back towards the armored brother, who was causing spikes to fly towards the female homunculus, piercing her skin, but the wounds regenerated instantaneously. And lastly…

"Master," Lan Fan gasped to herself, and she began to slowly sit up.

"Hey! No—wait! You're in no shape to—" Lan Fan stood up shakily, ignoring the protests. The half-done bandage dangled from her arm; blood and filth slowly dripped with a plop into the sewer. Her master and her grandfather were fighting for their lives; she had to get up. She had to be of use in any way she could. She took a shaky step forward.

"Ed, get them out of the water!" the man suddenly shouted, and she halted. She abruptly recognized that voice, that aura—this was the man from the shed earlier, the one who had the power to control electricity. _Get out of the water_. So that meant…

"Got it," Ed breathed from where he lay on the ground, and drew a transmutation circle using his own blood. Giant pillars of earth erupted from the ground, first knocking out the sewer roof, and a second round transported her allies out and above the sewer water, with the exception of the strange Xingese man and the boy trapped in the armor, who was still struggling with the female immortal. The fat man and the female were at the Xingese man's mercy in the putrid muck.

"Die," she could hear him command coldly from down in the sewers below. The screams of the fat man and the woman echoed up to where she lay with the girl beside her on a precarious column. But…where was the other man, the one with the swords?

"_Young Master, leave now!_" she heard her grandfather command, switching to Xingese for the first time. There was the familiar sound of the clash of metal, and she felt rather than saw that the man that had injured her was fighting with her grandfather atop one of the precarious columns that the Amestrian boy had conjured up. The prince's silhouette was doubled over on an adjacent column, but she couldn't see if he was seriously wounded. It was night in a dimly lit part of the city…had they really been in the tunnel that long?

"_I won't leave you,_" the prince gasped, as if the air had been knocked out of him. He also was speaking in Xingese. "_I won't!_"

"_You must! He is too strong, and if you are killed, our clan will perish. Go!_" her grandfather shouted at the prince as he sliced at the Fuhrer, who dodged effortlessly. The prince froze, staring as her grandfather struggled. "_Go! I will hold him off!_"

Her prince straightened up, his back to her as he stood completely still for a second despite the continuing screams of the other two immortal beings below and the clash of swords as her grandfather barely held off his attacker. Lan Fan staggered a step forward, and a couple of rocks crumbled off the edge of her column. The blond girl who was also with her on the column and who had made the tourniquet on her arm quickly stood up and steadied her by grabbing her uninjured arm. Lan Fan ignored her. "_Go, Master,_" she begged him hoarsely. "_Go._" Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blonde look concernedly at her, worried but successfully confused by their use of their native tongue. Hopefully the Fuhrer didn't understand Xingese either.

"_But the Philosopher's Stone…"_

"_Fool!"_ her grandfather roared. He charged at the Fuhrer, who was watching him impassively as he effortlessly stopped all her grandfather's attacks. _"You are why it's necessary!"_ he grunted as the Fuhrer lashed back. _"You. Must. Live!"_

"_I won't leave!"_ her prince told him firmly, leaping towards the fight._ "Without his subjects, a king is nothing!"_

They were fighting. Lan Fan swayed, the graceful clash of swords becoming oddly out-of-focus, her vision starting to grey over. Not good. She was losing consciousness.

"Hey!" the girl beside her said worriedly, still holding tightly onto her arm. "Sit down before you fall!"

Abruptly, her grandfather kicked her prince out of the way, and he landed ungracefully on an adjacent pillar. Her grandfather was once more facing the Fuhrer alone. _"If you won't run away to save your country, run to save Lan Fan."_ Ling stiffened.

"_That's…a dirty trick, Fuu." _There was no response; her grandfather appeared to be concentrating solely on the fight now. The prince turned around and at the sight of her staring defiantly at him, she could see his expression turn anguished. He hesitated a moment more before he agreed in a constricted voice, "_Alright._ _I'll…see you later, Fuu." _He jumped forward, grabbed Lan Fan around the waist, hoisted her over his shoulder, and took off away from the fight.

"Hey!" the girl who had also been on her column protested in surprise. "Don't carry her like that when she's injured!"

"Ling?" yelled the short, injured Amestrian boy as Ling jumped from a column to a nearby roof. Lan Fan blinked as she dazedly realized they were in the middle of the moonlit Central City and there was a small crowd of people gaping up at them from the ground. Her prince ignored Ed and landed hard on the roof, tiles skittering down to the ground from the impact. Lan Fan gritted her teeth, silently cursing her grandfather's actions.

"_Master," _she gasped. "_Stop this. Leave me behind! You must survive!"_

"_Not without saving at least one of you!"_ he snarled back at her. _"I already left Fuu behind! Don't ask anything more of me!"_

His head bowed, and Lan Fan sincerely hoped that he was too preoccupied with his guilt to notice as she saw her grandfather grab onto his opponent, activate several explosives, and yell, "_Yes, my prince. I'll see you later…in the afterlife."_ Tears rolled down her face, unseen under the mask as seconds later the familiar sound of an explosion ended the life of her only remaining family.

* * *

"Damn paperwork," Mustang sighed to himself.

"Just be quiet and get it done, Colonel," Breda grumbled unenthusiastically in response.

"That's no way to speak to your superior officer," the Colonel replied just as dully. He groaned again and looked out the window. The street lights glow illuminated houses frosted by the recent cold snap. The weather shouldn't last much longer, he hoped. Not only was it annoying that it supposed to be spring already, but…he tore his eyes from the window. No use worrying about that brat; he was probably off gallivanting away someplace with his brother. Right. He leaned back in his chair, arms casually behind his head. "Don't tell me you actually _like_ overtime."

Breda shot him a scathing look. The Colonel grinned.

"This is all your fault," Breda grumbled. "Why'd you have to go and catch that criminal anyways?"

"Maybe I wouldn't have if I had known that this would have come along with it," Mustang agreed with a sigh. It was quiet for a moment before he changed the subject. "Have you talked to Havoc recently?"

"Yeah, he's still up in arms over his girlfriend. He swears that she must've been kidnapped. He doesn't think there's any way that she would just disappear." Breda grimaced.

Mustang snorted. "Well, what does he think? She only visited him that one time—"

"And then you gave her a lecture and she never showed up again, sir," Breda reminded him.

"Ah. Right. He still doesn't know that, right?"

"I imagine so, sir. You're still alive, aren't you?"

"Um…" Warrant Officer Falman said quietly, looking up from his paperwork where he had been working diligently, ignoring their bickering. "How about Lieuten—"

"No changes," Mustang interrupted shortly.

"Oh." The silence stretched on awkwardly.

Colonel Mustang looked at his gloved hands before him. They were clenched, just like they had been at the military tribunal the day previously.

_"Colonel Mustang, we thank you once again for your capture of the criminal Barry the Chopper. Rest assured he will not be allowed to stay alive for long. However…" He looked up warily. "You are to never mention the details of this incident to anyone. Barry the Chopper was a flesh-and-blood human who murdered countless people. He wore armor to protect himself, and that is all. You are to never reveal his true identity to anyone. Is that clear?"_

_ He agreed quite graciously. "Yes sir." That was easy enough. __And anyways, he had gained quite a bit from this criminal; they couldn't take back what the criminal had told him._

He unclenched his hands, before they became as cramped as they had that day. This case went far deeper than he had expected it to. Homunculi, philosopher's stone, corruption in the military…it was all very troubling. But there were greater worries in his mind that distracted him throughout the day. Havoc would be fine, or as fine as one could be with no legs…he had been on the mend for months. The Lieutenant…no one was sure about her yet. Her life was still balancing on a razor's edge.

But perhaps most worrisome… was the fact that his youngest subordinate had been missing since the previous summer.

_Fullmetal…where the hell are you? _


	30. An Unnatural Chill

Chapter 30—An Unnatural Chill

Um…so if anyone's still reading, I'm still alive…and writing. Life and a writer's block for this chapter just got in the way. I can't promise it won't happen again. In fact, it will probably be a while before I can update again because of some really hard classes this semester, but…I still intend to finish this story.

Anyways, thanks to all those who reviewed! It really helped motivate me when I was trying to come up with what to write next.

I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

"Aaaaagh!"

Far underneath Central in the sewers, a group of chimeras in the air vent above the smelly muck watched inquisitively as a curious event unfolded below them. Many of the chimeras didn't know what was happening, but only watched because all the other chimeras were, and because they were afraid to descend with so many dangerous figures below. But the other chimeras, the ones that had been, in a past life, human, watched the unfolding scene with vague recognition. Two figures moved grotesquely in the filth below, their bodies contorting in concordance with the sparks that danced across them. Screams were the only accompaniment to their movements, and another pair of humans watched them move.

One human-chimera was watching the two spasming figures below particularly intensely. Something was familiar about it, something that hovered just out of reach in the back of his mind. He strained trying to remember…dancing? Was that it? The human-chimera remembered days by a fire enclosed in a brick box, twirling around with a little girl to clapping and music. He tapped his claw-like nails against the grate, trying to find a rhythm in the screams, but found none to his disappointment. He slouched, tails between his legs, as he tried to recall more such memories, such pleasant details of his past life. But he couldn't, and before long, he had forgotten all about the fire in the box, the little girl, music, and dancing, and he clambered away, uninterested. An animal's brain couldn't hold human memories for long after all.

One by one, the chimeras became disenchanted with the scene below and wandered away. One, however, stayed behind as it intently watched one of the spectators of the dance. Suddenly, seeming to make up its mind, it opened its mouth. "Hei." The spectator looked up, startled.

"Mao?" he breathed in disbelief. The other spectator, an empty suit of armor, also looked up in surprise. The chimera raised its paw slightly, winked, and ambled off before the spectators could say another word. It had been hard enough finding an opening to escape, and he wouldn't risk being any more obvious than he already had been. He lay his grotesque head down between his paws. He had informed Hei that he was still alive; it was best to lay low from now on.

Farther down the air vent, a chimera nail tapping against metal started up another unsteady beat.

* * *

_Mao's alive._ Hei's focus slipped for a moment as he stared at the spot Mao had just vacated. Surely the researchers would have known not to keep him near any sort of animal, so… how?

_It doesn't matter. Focus._

He returned his attention to the Homunculi, who were spasming uncontrollably as he electrocuted them over and over, their screeches echoing throughout the sewer; the smell of burning meat intermixed with the pungent odor of waste. They definitely hadn't noticed Hei's quick exchange with Mao—Gluttony seemed unable to do anything but continue to scream where he lay. Lust, though, was still dangerous. She was still trying to attack him, her nails elongating and withdrawing again and again, but the electricity-induced spasming seemed to be making it difficult to aim, and she continued to miss, merely punching holes in the sewer wall. A rogue nail zoomed past his head, and he quickly ducked and hurried out of the way in case the Homunculus suddenly regained control of her faculties. But still…this didn't seem like it would be too difficult. If what the brothers had said was true, all he had to do was keep electrocuting these homunculi until their Philosopher's stones ran out, and then they would die…

He heard a shifting sound to his left. Al stood uncomfortably off to the side on the sewer sidewalk, freed from Lust's nails and full of puncture wounds. He didn't seem to be looking anywhere in particular, but even with that expressionless mask for a face Hei could sense his reproach. The boy's—or rather, the armor's—shoulder plates were hunched, his arms held close to himself… his body language spoke for himself. He didn't approve of the suffering Hei was causing the Homunculi. Hei felt a flash of disapproval, but had to remind himself that really, this boy really was still just a child, just as he himself had once been. Al hadn't yet had the realization that survival had to come before any kind of pity for the enemy.

The screams continued drearily onwards, echoing down the sewers…it wouldn't be long now until reinforcements were sent, he was sure. He tried to stay on alert, his ears straining for the slightest sound past the screams, while also keeping a vigilant eye on Lust. So far, nothing. This might just turn out alright…

Suddenly, Hei saw a flash and heard an explosion, loud enough to momentarily drown out the screams of the two Homunculi he was electrocuting. He spared a glance upwards: bright flames, contrasting sharply against the pitch-black sky, were now billowing up from one of the columns that Ed had conjured up…but he couldn't see anything further.

"What was that?" Al whispered from where he stood at his side.

"Don't know," Hei answered him curtly. Right on cue, something plopped into the water and floated to the top of the sludge like a buoy. Hei glanced at it long enough to determine that it wasn't anything that would blow up in their faces, and it immediately lost his interest. His eyes scanned what they could see of the now slightly illuminated sewer. He squinted, thinking he saw an odd shadow farther down, but it was difficult to tell with the flames above flickering as they were. His gaze narrowed in on the suspicious object further, but, abruptly, Al gasped.

"What?" Hei shot out quickly, eyes darting away to every corner of the sewer, searching for an imminent attack.

Al pointed a shaking, leather hand towards the sewer sludge, and Hei's eyes followed. _Ah_. The object that had plummeted down from above earlier was—"A…hand," Al whispered, repulsed. Gluttony gave a particularly loud shriek at that moment, and Hei could barely hear him when he repeated, "A h-human hand."

"Don't think about it," Hei told him, his voice artificially calm. He clamped down on a small, but prickling worry that the hand had come from the other Elric brother. He kept his eyes firmly on the Homunculi he was electrocuting. "Just concentrate."

"Perhaps you should follow you own advice?" a high-pitched, voice suggested smoothly from behind, where the strange shadow had been moments earlier. He whirled around. Innumerable slitted eyes and abnormally wide smiles were staring gleefully at him from the darkness. Pride. "Finally, a decent source of light," the ethereal voice of Pride said, the grins widening in the shadows created by the light emanating down from the fire on the column.

"W-what is…that?" Al asked a bit shakily.

"Close off the sewer!" Hei barked at him. "Now!" There would be no time to run, and they probably _shouldn't_ run anyways if it meant finishing off the two other Homunculi… the best option was to get rid of Pride's abilities. There was no way to fight Pride if his body wasn't here, but he in turn needed light in order to fight.

"Uh…O-okay!" Al said shaking himself and clapping his hand together. The toothy grins shining from the shadows widened further, and Hei knew immediately that Al wouldn't be fast enough. Jet black hands shot out towards the both of them and threw Al to the ground, but Hei had anticipated the attack and was already maneuvering out of the way. Al crashed to the sewer walk floor with an 'oof!,' the metallic clang reverberating off the sewer walls as more black hands shot at him—left—above—right—below—he barely dodged the last by a kind of last-minute sideways shuffle. The movement allowed him see out of the corner of his eye a strange irregularity—almost like a flicker—in his shadow…Behind! He dropped down, almost completely in sewage, and felt rather than saw a shadowy blade just scrape his back. He leaped away, hearing the splash of other dark blades missing their target and entering waste instead of flesh.

"Hei!" He could hear Al struggling under the black hands pinning him down. Hei dodged a shadowy blade aimed at his head, and noted in an absent-minded kind of way the strands of hair that the blade had sliced off floating past. "Let me go. Let me go!" The last shout was more like a roar, and Hei looked, startled, to the side to see pillars upon pillars of stone emerging from the earth and slamming into the shadowy arms and blades, which seemed to be, at the very least, startled into immobility for a moment.

"Concentrating?" an insidious, child-like voice asked him sweetly from behind. Hei felt a chill run down his spine and whirled around, finally drawing his knives, which glinted from the flickering light issuing from above. He felt something abruptly slam into his hastily prepared defenses; a metallic shriek rang out and sparks sprouted from the collision of the his knife and the shadowy blades—but then he pushed away from the attack, backing up a couple steps to regain his bearings. He was lucky to have stopped Pride's attack. Letting himself get distracted in a battlefield …what was he thinking? He tuned out from the rest of the battle and concentrated solely on Pride, who was issuing a volley of blows towards him.

Hei evaded and blocked every one. But it was almost too easy, and there was a strange pattern in Pride's attack. Every time he tried to make a move to the right—Hei shuffled to the right a bit to prove his theory, and sure enough, he was promptly blocked by a flurry of attacks that drove him in the opposite direction. Pride was trying to herd him…he was trying to get him to go towards the left, towards… the sewer sidewalk. _Ah. _Pride was trying to force him out of the water to make him stop electrocuting his two fellow Homunculi, which he had unconsciously continued while fending off Pride's attacks. He was barely managing Pride; he couldn't handle three Homunculi at once. And there was no way to attack Pride; it was only his shadow here, and Pride's real body could be anywhere in Central. He and Al would have to leave the sewer if they wanted to survive. And quickly.

He tried to charge past Pride towards Al, ducking and weaving around the blades that whirled around him, but had to retreat with several shallow wounds. One of the attacks seemed to have damaged his leg a bit, and he winced as he dodged Pride's attack more slowly than before, which earned him a slice on the cheek. He couldn't reach Al at this rate; he couldn't get past Pride. If he had just a moment, just to think up a counterattack—

"Hei!" He blinked. Giant, horizontal fists rods rocketed out from the sewer wall and slammed into Pride's jet-black appendages. A bedraggled metallic figure staggered towards him, looking more like a target practice at a shooting range than armor. Little pieces of metal fell off the armor as it ran, clapping its hands together, and as Hei saw the sparks dancing around Al's screeching, falling-apart armor, he finally had an idea.

"Make a shelter for us!" he shouted, backing up as fast as he possibly could towards Al—and the sewer sidewalk—while holding off Pride. Al slammed his hands to the ground moments before Pride severed what remained of the armor's right arm. Al fell back with a metallic squeal, but as the sparks that preceded alchemical reactions lit up the sidewalk, Hei knew that Al had succeeded in being able to initiate the alchemy. He saw out of the corner of his eyes a sturdy-looking structure burst out of the ground, and while he plunged his hand into the sewer water he barked to Al, "Get ready to close it off!"

"Idiotic," Pride commented lightly, but Hei didn't hear when Pride elaborated on their idiocy, because he was focusing on his hands, barely visible underneath the sewage, with all his might. Bai's explanation of her powers—now his—from so long ago echoed through his mind:

_My ability is to manipulate electrons, and that includes breaking bonds between atoms and molecules, and forming new ones. It's, for all intents and purposes, one of the basic parts of all forms of alchemy._

He had never attempted this before, had never really tried to use his sister's powers in any way except to generate electricity. Even when he was a Contractor, there was just something so…inherently dangerous about using Bai's power to its full potential, like he was cheating some unknown system and would be severely punished if caught. And considering the part that Bai's use of non-electrical alchemy had played in her death...he felt that his past hesitance was understandable. But despite all this, and though he wasn't even really sure how to use his electron-controlling alchemy to break bonds beyond a hazy sort of visualization he had, it was better than no plan at all. _Concentrate, concentrate…!_ Hei saw with a small flare of triumph a red spark flash from beneath the water, and Pride laughed.

"A spark? You really are getting soft." The jet-black blades materialized around him once again flew towards him; Hei rushed to get out of the way._ Can't block it yet!_ He reminded himself forcefully as he splashed through the sewage towards Al's makeshift shelter and narrowly missed having his feet skewered for the second time that day. _Can't use my knife, just in case…can't make a spark, not yet!_ _Easier said than done_, he thought grimly as he side-stepped yet another incoming blade. He saw out of the corner of his eye the shadowy blade he had just dodged hook around and come at him from behind. He ducked down, and as it passed overhead, jumped out of the sewer, onto the sidewalk—and into Al's hastily made shelter. The sound of Lust's and Gluttony's screams abruptly stopped as his feet left the water, creating an eerie quiet for one unending moment.

"Now!" he shouted at Al, shattering the silence as he slammed his knife down just below where the sole opening of the shelter was. He could see Pride's thousand inky arms reaching for them, and Lust, no longer being electrocuted, was shooting her fingernails at them as well. But he could also see the walls of the little shelter rapidly elongating, closing off the opening, and as soon as the walls closed around the middle of his knife, he slammed his hand onto the sliver of exposed steel on his and Al's side of the wall and shot a strong current of electricity through it. The sharp, cracking sound of a spark leaping from the exposed portion of the knife on Pride's side of the wall to some unknown object resounded through the entire sewer for a moment before it was echoed by a deafening explosion.

"Whoah!" Al yelled as the entire sewer shuddered. Although it had held firm during the explosion, chunks of the Al's conjured wall were already falling away. It was time to go.

"Get us out of the sewer!" Hei commanded Al.

"R-right!" With his remaining good arm, Al sketched out a quick circle, and they were at last in the infinitely purer night air of Central.

Hei quickly glanced around at their new surroundings—a veritable forest of columns that had erupted from the sewer upon the older Elric's escape. He could hear some frightened murmurings below—a crowd had probably gathered because of the explosions and noise—and he could make out two figures illuminated by the moonlight a few columns away.

"Ed! Winry!" Al exclaimed as he struggled to sit up with his mangled armored body. Winry looked up from where she was at Ed's side keeping pressure on his injured arm, startled. But Ed, who was sprawled on the ground, only twitched pathetically at the sound of Al's voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Winry told him in a deceptively even voice. "But…Ed's lost a lot of blood." Her voice quivered slightly on the last word.

"Winry—"

"We need to get going," Hei interrupted, hauling up what remained of Al, and the pair headed slowly towards the Elric brother and his friend with Al leaning heavily on Hei. "We have two injured to carry, and we need to hide."

"Injured?" Ed repeated in an abnormally quiet voice as he tried to sit up. "Al—"

"I can walk," Al interrupted defiantly and gave Hei what seemed to be meant to be a glare. Hei ignored him and drag him along.

"How'd you escape?" Ed breathed to them as Winry carefully put her arms underneath him, and lifted him, trying to keep him lying as flat as possible. Hei could see him clearly now, and he was far too pale.

Hei set Al down next to his brother as they reached them, and Al started immediately drawing a circle on the muddy pillar. Without taking his eyes—or rather, the eyeholes in his helmet—off the intricate circle he was creating, he said, "I think Hei decomposed the organic matter in the sewer into hydrocarbon gases…"A spark flickered in Al's completed circle, and they started to descend. Hei nodded distractedly, keeping his eyes on the crowd.

They reached the ground, and Ed felt strangely grateful for his lack of an arm—automail or flesh—at the moment, as it made it easier for Winry to carry him. And maybe it helped that he was so sho… Nope. That definitely wasn't a factor! He shook his head slightly; there were more important things to think about at the moment. Namely the fact that Hei had saved his little brother's life. He looked up slightly and muttered to Hei in his voice still scratchy from the fire underground, "Thanks."

Hei didn't respond. The crowd of people at the foot of the pillars stood apprehensively out of their way, seeming to not know what to do, and parted like water when their little group moved slowly through the crowd. Painfully slowly. There was no way they wouldn't get caught like this…Hei glanced surreptitiously at the crowd of confused Central citizens around them, watchful for the inevitable Homunculi counterattack.

"Maybe we should blow something else up? For a distraction?" Al muttered under his breath to Hei.

There was a slight pause. "Maybe," Hei said shortly. "But I doubt they want to attack us in a crowd. Driving away our only protection could get us killed."

Ed's eyes widened as he looked over Winry's shoulder. "Actually… I think they don't care about the crowd," he whispered.

Hei quickly followed his line of sight, up the columns. Lust was standing at the top of one of the columns, completely unharmed. It seemed they weren't the only ones to notice, heads were turning in the crowd to fearfully watch the newest arrival from the sewers. Suddenly, screams broke out as, in the flickering shadows of the still burning flame of the column, hundreds of unnaturally white eyes and teeth bloomed out of the darkness.

* * *

_Keep moving, keep moving,_ Ling chanted to himself in his head as he brushed roughly past pedestrians, trying to get through the crowd and yet not give himself away by leaving a trail of knocked down Central citizens. Although…he suspected, considering who was tracking him down, that it wasn't going to matter too much anyways.

Why were there so many people out at this time of night anyways? And why was it so cold in summer? He chalked it up to an Amestrian oddity. After all, in what sort of sane country would have its ruler chase a foreign prince through the streets, trying to kill him? This place was incredibly backwards; Fuu had said so from the beginning—he cut off that train of thought immediately. Don't think. Just focus, and charm the local populace into letting him through.

"Excuse me, pardon me, innocent immigrant coming through," Ling said with a cheerful smile plastered to his face as he tried to push past a particularly densely packed group of elderly women discussing local gossip. He failed and was stuck between several particularly loud and oblivious ladies. He glanced in a panic at Lan Fan, who seemed to be fading fast after the arm injury.

"Oh, goodness, didn't you hear? There was a sighting of the Fullmetal Alchemist near the Xingese border! I heard it from a reliable source myself!"

"Excuse me!" he shouted, trying to elbow his way through. But he was trapped on all sides, and none of the women seemed to feel his increasingly desperate jab through their thick coats.

"There she goes again! Didn't you also tell us that your niece had heard that the Fuhrer was missing? Why, we just heard at the ceremony! He just has—"

"A very convenient cold!" the other woman finished triumphantly.

"It _is_ odd. It's almost like he missed his own party," another woman added her input thoughtfully.

"Dear, I think—"

"Excuse me," Ling repeated, but this time in his best innocent voice, the kind he used when flirting with Winry. His change in tactics worked, all the women turned and looked at him. They shrieked when they saw the state of his clothes—actually, he was mildly surprised they hadn't smelled him earlier. He soldiered on anyways. "Do any of you ladies have a car? My friend had an accident, and…"

After several more exclamations over his and Lan Fan's state, they called over a cab (the driver gaped in horror at the filth slowly dripping off his clothes) and paid for the fee themselves. He clambered into the cab and gently laid Lan Fan on the seat and sat beside her before closing the cab door. So he had a way to possibly outrun the Fuhrer, but now what? Going to a hospital would just make him an easy target. But if he didn't then Lan Fan would… He shook his head. _Focus, focus, focus, focus!_ He shouted to himself in his head. _Think about that later. Think of a plan now. A plan…right._

"Incidentally, ladies," he leaned out the window as the cab started off in the direction of the hospital they had specified, and told the women with his most charming smile, like he was a regal prince, and not a sewage-covered foreigner who had just been carrying a half-dead woman on his shoulder through the streets, "I believe I saw the Fuhrer himself just behind me when I was coming this way. You should spread the word to have everyone congratulate him when they see him, since he missed his own…uh…celebration. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

It seemed to work. The group of ladies beamed at him as the coach started off in the direction of the hospital they had specified. Ling sighed and sank back into his seat as the women disappeared from view. He had no illusions of that feeble plan distracting the Fuhrer for long, or that it would even work, but maybe it would give them enough time to get Lan Fan's wound cleaned and bandaged before they escaped from the hospital. Maybe.

He sighed again and turned to look at Lan Fan, who had long since stopped speaking. Her face was a pasty gray, and her filthy bandages were probably doing her more harm than good. But he didn't dare redo them for fear that she would bleed to death—his clothes were just as bad, and he had nothing clean to wrap them in. He should've asked for something…too late now.

This was bad. No, it had _been_ bad ever since he ran into that cold Xingese man and his silver-haired partner. Why did he…he should have…No, he had done what he had to! He had done what he had to for his country, and his bodyguards knew the risk! It was still his fault—_stop thinking about it_—Fuu was dead—_stop and think!_ And Lan Fan was likely to follow soon…_Focus, and think about this later! _He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, but…it didn't change anything. Even if he thought about it more at a later time, the results would still be the same. Fuu would still be dead, he wouldn't have the Philosopher's Stone, he would have failed his country, and Lan Fan…

_She's depending on me._ If nothing else, he had to focus now for her sake. He had to keep himself together, and not…not…

A strangled sort of sound clawed its way out of his throat.

The cab driver gave him a quick anxious glance over his shoulder. "You okay back there?"

"Fine," Ling managed to get out in a semi-normal voice that still sounded choked. He had to stop thinking about this, he would have to put on an act again once they got to the hospital…

His head raised slightly as he heard something…belated celebrations, assumedly aimed at the Fuhrer were floating in from the cab window. Despite himself, a small, grim smile wormed its way to his face. The king who cared nothing for his people was being held up by his own subjects, however unintentionally.

"Long live the Fuhrer!"

"Long live Amestris!"

He tried to tune out the well-meaning Amestrians, and brushed Lan Fan's sweaty hair out of her face. But the comment of a nearby pedestrian coming from the opposite side of the street brought him up short.

"Isn't it cool that our nation's anniversary is right before an eclipse?"


End file.
